


Wish Warriors ~Puella Magi Dresden Magica~

by Dream_Traveler_Zenddrex



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Dark Fantasy, F/F, Gen, Heavy Metal, Psychological Horror, Slice of Life, character driven, cosmic horror, gothic horror, yuri undertones
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27501277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_Traveler_Zenddrex/pseuds/Dream_Traveler_Zenddrex
Summary: A heavy metal magical girls band must fight The Four Witches of the Apocalypse to prevent the annihilation of Vela Nova city. This is a gothic story that takes place in the world of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime, but it has nothing to do with the anime's story or its characters, in the same vein as some of the official manga spin-offs.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Witch's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> This story came about from the following premise: if Kyubey appeared to you when you were a teenager, what would you have wished for? While others would use this as an opportunity for power fantasy, I, being a student of Urobutcher and someone who loves the gothic aesthetic, came up with a story very close to the tone of the original Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime.
> 
> Keep in mind that the main character is her own person, not a shameless author self-insert - despite the original premise - so she doesn't suffer from what I like to call "Kirito Complex." 
> 
> Fair warning: my depictions of mental illness, though perhaps slightly exaggerated, come from personal experience and formal research. If depression, anxiety, psychosis, and suicide trigger you, you may be better off skipping this story, though it pains me to say so.
> 
> The chapters with the subtitle 'Treasured Memories' are side chapters that took place before the time frame of the main storyline. They help with getting to know our main cast better and are a lot of fun, so I don't suggest skipping them.
> 
> This story is practice for when I write my debut novel, a gothic fairytale called Nocturne. Though it is merely a fanfic, I do love Wish Warriors, and I hope you love it too.
> 
> My upload schedule should be a new chapter every other week, earlier if I can manage. 
> 
> Cheers, and may the good blood guide your way~
> 
> \--Dream Traveler Zenddrex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Someone. . . save me. . . please. . ."

_Why? Why did it have to end like this?_ My last coherent thought as I hung from the railing, on the edge of life and death, was subdued, quiet, like a distant echo. In one of the back tunnels of the cave that was my brain, I was screaming, “No!” But that scream didn’t reach as my body, as if deciding on its own, let go.

They say your entire life flashes by before you die. But for me, my mind only flashed as far back as yesterday, as if I was trying to figure out how I came to be here, falling from the bridge.

It was a normal Thursday, and I was two months into ninth grade. I woke up to my phone alarm (“Calling” from _The World Ends with You)_ , got ready for the day, ate breakfast, said goodbye to Mom, and caught the bus to school. Since mine was one of the first stops, I got my pick of empty seats. I always chose whichever was closest to the front. There weren’t enough seats to keep this one to myself, but whoever sat next to me ignored me anyway, and I read my fantasy novel quietly, making the ignoring mutual. My headphones drowned out the bus driver’s incessant pop radio with my own music – this time, it was _Kill Them All_ by Metallica. Their debut album, and a classic.

In the first class, English, the teacher wrote down five different books on the white board. “Today we are starting a group project,” she said. “I’m letting you choose your groups. No more than six per team. Some of you will have five. Once everyone is settled, we will decide which book your project will be focused on with a drawing.” She gave us the signal to go ahead, and my classmates all stood up and started changing seats, talking excitedly. I stayed in mine, shoulders slumped, and picked up my book. I had to distract myself before the anxiety set in. _If only I could listen to music in class. Just one earbud would be enough._ I thought, not for the first time.

“Dresden, go find a group,” the teacher said.

I stood up at her prompting, looking back and forth between classmates. No one met my gaze, so I stayed where I was. Tension mounted inside me, causing time to slow to a crawl and white noise to fade into my ears. After two eternities (minutes) passed and the groups were formed, the teacher sighed the same way she did every time she asked us, more specifically me, to partner up.

“Dresden, you’ll be in in this group. Now find your seat.”

I obeyed and sat with my group. At least when the teacher tells me who to be with, it isn’t my fault that I’m there. The white noise dissipated.

After the teacher explained the assignment and we picked which story we would be reporting on, the teacher gave us the rest of the classtime to discuss how we would divide up the work.

“Hey, would you mind presenting?” One of the boys in my group asked.

“Huh?” It took me a moment realize that he was talking to me. I started to answer, “Uh, sure,” but was immediately overtaken by another boy.

“C’mon, you know she can’t present. She doesn’t even talk.”

The first boy laughed. “I was just joking, obviously.”

_I can present just fine, actually,_ I muttered in my head, but I said nothing. In the end, I was stuck with the most boring task – filling out a worksheet – like always.

World History went by slowly. As the teacher droned on about important dates in the French Revolution, I daydreamed about the latest adventure for a story I was writing about a diverse party of heroes banding together in order to save the realm of dreams. A bit meta, I know. And naturally, since it was my dream, I was in the party, too. With the power of heavy metal, I brutally crushed my enemies and then raised them back to life to join the ranks of my undead army, which grew in power with every passing—

“Dresden, answer the question, please.” I returned to reality, a bit disoriented. With the way the entire class was looking at me, the teacher must have called my name multiple times now, but in her monotone I didn’t notice until now. _How long have people been staring at me zoning out?_ The white noise came back, louder than before.

“Um, could you repeat the question?” I asked, looking at my desk.

“Speak up, please.”

“. . .” I hid my burning face in my folded arms on my desk, fried from the pressure.

She sighed the same sigh as my English teacher, then called on someone else.

At lunch I sat by myself. I packed my own lunch, preferring that to the stinking cafeteria food. Once again I plugged in my headphones and turned on some music. Continuing the trend of this morning, I played Megadeth’s first album, _Killing Is My Business. . . And Business Is Good_. It overpowered and drove back the white noise. I ate while continuing to read the fantasy novel. No one bothered me.

Next was PE. We played softball. Sports aren’t really my thing, but at least there was no pressure for me to do well. Half of the students don’t even try anyway, probably thinking it makes them look cool or something. Mom and Dad say that exercise helps improve your mood, but I didn’t feel any better.

Normally foreign language class was after PE, but today we had an assembly. Apparently the school snagged a motivational speaker. _Why couldn’t the assembly interrupt my first class instead of my last? I actually like Japanese._ I had to admit out of all the ways my high school sucked, foreign language was one thing they did right, though it’s more coincidence than intentional. The school curriculum teaches whatever foreign languages they have the teachers for. While most schools would teach French or Spanish, my school offered Italian, German, and Japanese. _It’s too bad I can’t replace Math and History with Italian and German. Italian sounds fun, and German is so heavy metal._

Not long after I took my seat on the gym’s bleachers, my discomfort skyrocketed thanks to some mook from the bleachers across the gym who decided it was funny to point a laser at my eyes. This was just my luck. I didn’t have anyone who specifically bullied me, but when it came to general bullying I always ended up being an easy target. _Is it something in my aura?_ The laser disappeared occasionally, probably when the teacher was looking their way, but it was never gone for long. Meanwhile, two girls behind me giggled as they flicked my ears. Incessantly. Once is bad enough. I turned around, giving them the most death metal glare I could conjure. Unfortunately, this only egged them on, and they became more persistent. No one around me seemed to notice, or care.

I sunk my head into my lap, hands covering my ears, eyes closed. The white noise amp in my ears turned up to eleven, shifting to an even high pitched ringing, like a flatlined electrocardiogram. My breathing became shallow, and despite me sitting down with my eyes closed, I felt like the world was spinning around me. Or was I the one spinning?

_I need my music. It could stabilize me._

_You can’t escape your punishment. This is the fate of those who don’t belong in the real world._

_I wish I could disappear into my dream worlds, but I can’t! I’m tethered here. It’s not my fault I exist!_

_That matters not. You identify more with characters in stories than actual people, and you believe in ideals that have no place in the real world._

_I need my music. It could stop these thoughts._

Spinning spinning spinning. . .

I must have passed out, because next thing I was aware of was someone nudging me on the shoulder. I lifted my head up. I saw colors and shapes, but I couldn’t identify them as anything past that. A pillar looming over me spoke, and what I heard must have been English, but my brain wasn’t processing the words, which sounded submerged underwater. Seeing a reaction, though dazed as it was, the teacher helped me up and walked me to the nurses office. By then my senses came into focus.

“What class did you come from?” he asked me.

I answered.

“I’ll have someone bring you your things.”

I began to protest, but the nurse started talking to me, overtaking my own voice, and the teacher left.

I told the nurse what happened, including what caused it. She shook her head, ordered me to lay down on one of the cots, and called Mom, telling her that I passed out in class and that she should come pick me up in case I pass out again. I thought that all of this was unnecessary. There were only ten minutes left of school anyway. But I said nothing. I still didn’t feel great, and if this meant I got to skip after-school cross-country “practice,” then I may as well let this happen. _Mom’s gonna be pissed, though._

Sure enough, on the car ride home from school, after she had me explain to her what happened, she said, “Are you doing this just to get out of cross-country?”

“No,” I answered, defensive.

“Look, I know you don’t like it, but you need the daily exercise.”

_We’re off-subject._ This is how my parents always dealt with my “episodes.” They don’t ask me how I’m doing and instead go straight into accusations, like I’m a tantrum throwing toddler. Once when I called Dad out on this, he replied, “I don’t have to ask you how you’re feeling, because if weren’t feeling good then you would tell me. Am I wrong?” Unfortunately, he was in fact wrong. Unless I was physically sick, I stopped sharing with them how I felt, since they were decidedly unhelpful.

“Everyone gets depressed and anxious,” they told me before. “You just need to learn to deal with it. Remember, there are people much worse off than you are.” They said that like it was supposed to cheer me up.

I plugged in an earbud and put on Anthrax’s _Fistful of Metal_ while Mom continued her lecture. I headbanged subtly to the songs, which Mom took as nodding along to what she was saying.

After returning home, I practiced piano for an hour – “Kimi no Hikari” by Kyle Landry, “Merry-Go-Round” by Joe Hisaishi, and “Musique pour la tristesse de Xion” from Kingdom Hearts Piano Collections: Field and Battle.

Homework took longer than normal. I was still agitated, despite my attempt to cool down with piano. After staring at the same History short-answer problem for ten minutes with no progress, I threw my homework aside and loaded up a word document on the computer. “Dream Warriors,” the title said. It was my own story I was working on. The best part was that as long as I sat at the computer with my textbooks and notebooks open, my parents thought I was doing homework. I didn’t feel too guilty about giving up on homework from time to time, since my grades have stayed in the honor roll.

I wrote down today’s daydream adventure, more fully realized on paper, of course. Unlike real life, my story had high stakes excitement. It was rife with difficulty and conflict both external and internal much more intense than real life’s mundane trials, but at least my characters (and I, in the story, that is) had the power to conquer them, as well as true friends to stay by us in our darkest hours _. I’d say that’s a fair trade for tragedy._

After dinner I watched anime in my room until bedtime. Lying in bed with no distractions, finally I had to do what I’ve been putting off all day, which was confront the gloom lingering inside me. I’ve had bad days before, even worse than today, but for some reason today’s events dredged up my darkest of my inner dialogues and feelings. The scariest part was that I couldn’t pinpoint a reason why. _Is this just the natural result of me bottling up my feelings for three years?_

This mess started when was twelve, after we moved here and I started my first year of middle school. I never minded moving. My family moves every four years or so because of Dad’s job. But something about having to take on the harshness of middle school on my own awakened despair inside me, and it hadn’t left since. Up until this point, I had been able to push down the occasional stabbing pains of loneliness and the various frustrations that my parents never allowed me to express. I had no release, so I had no way to push this darkness out of me. Instead, I pushed it down, where it built up without my realizing. As a result, every bad day became a “worse day,” like my life was me rolling down a hill unable to stop. It was only a matter of time before I rolled off a cliff.

_Life isn’t anything how you wish it would be, and it doesn’t look like it will change. If anything, it’s steadily heading toward disaster. It would be different if you had a confidant to lean on (who could also lean on you), but you have no friends and you can’t count on your family for emotional support. All you have is yourself, your own strength, to pull you through, and as you can see by today, that strength is waning. You’ve never had the power to make friends yourself. No one in real life can be the confidant you so desperately need, anyway. Such a person is fantasy. Not real. Just like you. You’ve only ever been a bother to everyone else, and that will never change. No one is coming to save you, because you aren’t even supposed to be here to save in the first place._

The despair surged in waves. It was like my emotional pain somehow learned to inflict physical damage. Every bone in my body ached, and my stomach shriveled up, like it was being squeezed by the fist of some devil. It made me not want to move at all. I curled up, whimpering, as if that could somehow protect me.

The air became an invisible hand, gripping my throat. I couldn’t breathe. The darkness and silence of my room caved in on me, becoming that ringing in my ears once again. I frantically fumbled with my bluetooth speaker, turning it on while I selected music on my smart phone. The Rippingtons started playing. The smooth jazz band I had discovered from Dad’s collection of old CDs had the magic power to calm me when I woke up from a nightmare. Instinctively I turned to it now in this solemn hour.

Sure enough, after about five minutes I was able to regain control of my breathing. Deep inhale through nose. Deep exhale through nose. It still hurt. I still hurt. I suddenly became aware that I was crying. Thanks to the tears, clarity was restored to me somewhat, so I cast my mind this way and that desperately looking for a way to stop the pain. No answer broke through the gloom.

I left the music playing. I had every Rippingtons album, which was more than enough to last the entire night. I finally drifted off around 6:00am – thirty minutes before I had to wake up for school. I didn’t care. I had turned off my morning alarm on my phone, though that wasn’t the only alarm I had.

At 7:00am Mom sternly knocked at my bedroom door. “Hey, are you up?” she asked. When I didn’t give an immediate reply, she added in a sing-song voice, “Dresden, wakey-wakey! Time for school!” She knew my siblings and I hated when she talked to us like we were toddlers, but our protests only made her do it more. Perhaps she thought the irritation would wake us up faster, but I don’t think she was lucid enough to realize that.

I lifted up my head drowsily and replied, “I feel sick. I’m staying home today.”

This prompted Mom to enter my room and come to my bedside. “Where do you feel sick?” she asked as she felt my forehead.

Since the truthful response of “everywhere” would either cause Mom to worry enough that she wouldn’t leave me alone, or, more likely, be disbelieved, I decided to generalize my condition to the places most common sicknesses affect.

“My head and my stomach.”

“Well, I don’t feel a fever, but you are very pale. You’re also shivering. I’ll call the school. Why don’t you go take a warm bath, and I’ll make you a breakfast that’s easy on the stomach. OK?”

I nodded sluggishly, and she left. I wanted to go back to sleep, since it seemed I had finally regained the ability to do so, but I was feeling rather cold, so I took Mom’s advice.

The twenty minute bath warmed me up, but that’s all it did. I still felt the same, and I was still pale, too. I changed into warmer pajamas, ate very little of the oatmeal and banana slices Mom made for me, and returned to bed, exhaustion beating out despair so that I could finally fall asleep.

It was a troubled sleep, though, and I woke up often, only to drift back to the dream world fifteen minutes later. I was grateful for my blackout blinds keeping out the sunlight. By the time I fully reawakened, it was 2:00pm. My eyes were bloodshot. I didn’t feel rested at all. If anything, I felt worse. My breathing was heavy, like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen, and I felt like gravity was working twice as hard on me.

It took me thirty minutes to motivate myself to get out of bed. My head was swimming, which threw off my balance a bit. I shrugged on a hoodie and managed a trip to the washroom. Then like a zombie I ambled downstairs upon hearing Mom call my name.

She asked a question, but her words were muffled, like I was standing in an underwater room. Despite not being able to pick out the words, I figured she was asking how I was feeling, so I answered with words that also had that underwater quality: “I’m doing better.”

It was a lie, of course, but I didn’t want her to fuss over me. Well, I did want to be fussed over. I wanted to be held, to cry on someone’s shoulder, then maybe the hurt inside would melt away. But the thought of Mom being that person repulsed me. She couldn’t be that person. Neither could Dad, or my older sister, or my younger brother and sister, or anyone I knew.

Mom asked another question, and I nodded, which seemed to satisfy her. “I’ll be in my room,” I said.

I lied in my bed, watching more anime on my phone to distract me. It worked a little.

I joined my family for dinner, though since I still couldn’t understand what anyone was saying anyway, I had my headphones on. My music retained its sharpness, at least, unaffected by the underwater effect. After that, I resumed my anime binge watching. _Plastic Memories_ was both heartwarming and heartbreaking. The ending had me tearing up.

At midnight I awoke from a throbbing pain like electricity pulsing from my heart through my entire body. The despair had flared up again. Whimpering, I curled up in a ball. _Please go away please go away please go away_ transformed into simply _it hurts it hurts it hurts_ until my brain went fully numb from the pain, silencing all inner dialogue, and all conscious thought.

The shadows in my room drew closer to me, leering at me with sinister smiles. A sudden claustrophobic panic ensued. Asphyxiation. I had to get outside. With a dark haze over my mind, I threw on my winter coat and put on my boots. Then I opened my window and climbed out onto the roof. I had never snuck out of the house before, let alone climbed out of my window, but since Dad, a light sleeper, would hear if a door to the outside opened and closed, through the window I went. I left my headphones. I was no longer in control, and I was only partially aware of my actions. It was like my spirit was outside of my body but still anchored to it by the brain. My body moved on its own, responding to the two powerful emotions overwhelming me – despair, and fear of that despair. I needed to get rid of it.

After closing the window and landing roughly on the ground, I walked into the lightly snowing night. My field of vision darkened. The shadows were following me! Getting closer, closer. . .

I sped up but since I wasn’t in physical condition to run, it was more of a quick stumbling forward. My gaze shifted about frantically at the enemy only I could see. With my ragged breathing and almost tripping every few steps, no one would have been able to tell that I was on the high school cross country team, even if I was the slowest on the team. I didn’t come across any people, only more leering dark forms.

I don’t know how long I fled from my manifesting darkness, but eventually I found myself at the bridge. I halted for a moment. The haze persisted, but the appearance of the bridge did give me pause regardless. The first thought in a while spilled out. “The longer I live, the worse this world will torment me. There is no place for a dream like me to exist in reality. The only way to end all of this, to set things right, is. . .”

My thoughts shut off again. A few tears spilled out unheeded as I robotically grabbed the railing and swung myself over to the other side. No one seemed to notice, or care. Far below me was a waterway. If I let go from this height, I would surely die. Then I could be free from my darkness, and the world could be free of me – forever.

The last part of me that still clung to life cried out in a small voice, _Why? Why did it have to end like this?_ Then my arms let go of the railing, of life, and I fell into to what should have been my oblivion.

_Hello?_

I awoke to a boyish voice calling out to me, though I didn’t hear a sound. I opened my eyes to find myself crumpled on the ground with red eyes peering over at me.

_You are finally awake. I am glad._

I started up into a sitting position. It was still night time, and no one was around except for a strange feline fairy, the owner of the red eyes and the intelligent-sounding voice.

“What happened?” I asked in utter bewilderment. “I remember falling and. . .”

My eyes locked on the bridge, which was a mile off, and suddenly it all came back:

The pain so intense that I broke on the inside. The darkness from the corners of my vision crawling closer and closer to lash out at me. How I wandered sleepless, in a daze, from my room to the bridge, where I. . .

_What have I done?!_

Suddenly tears filled my eyes, and I was sobbing uncontrollably. It wouldn’t stop. Like a tsunami a torrent of emotions overwhelmed me – shock, horror, rage, disgust, fear, sorrow, strife – all of them surging out of me at once.

_You did take quite the tumble, that much is true. But it wasn’t entirely your fault. You were under the influence of a witch. Luckily for you, a magical girl saw you jump and rescued you before you hit the water. Judging by the disappearance of the Witch’s Kiss on your neck, she also defeated the witch, so you do not have to worry anymore about suicide attempts. She also asked me to watch over you until you recovered. [beat] I am Kyubey._

Kyubey had taken advantage of my state to spout off some strange exposition. I wasn’t in the condition to argue in any case, since it was a feline fairy that told it to me telepathically. But witches? Kisses? Magical girls?

I lifted my head out of my hands and tried to wipe away my tears, which didn’t accomplish anything, since the tears kept coming. I did managed to speak a single syllable.

“Huh?”

_A witch cursed you, but now it is gone,_ Kyubey reiterated. _You should feel much more stable now._

I did a quick mental self-check, and just like Kyubey said, that darkness was gone. Sure, I still felt depressed, anxious, and lonesome, but those feelings were at normal levels, not the horrendous levels that caused my self-destruction. Or the attempt to self-destruct, anyway.

I continued the conversation in my head, still not ready to speak. _So a witch kissed me, causing me to want to off myself? Why?_

_That is the nature of witches. They bring despair and curses. A Witch’s Kiss is the mark placed upon a human who has been cursed by a witch. It amplifies that human’s negative feelings to dangerous extremes. Situations in which people hurt each other or themselves oftentimes have a witch at the root of it. Only I and magical girls can see the mark or the witches, though._

_So magical girls fight witches, then?_

_Exactly. If witches are said to bring despair, then magical girls bring hope. In your case, thanks to a magical girl, your life was spared a tragic end._

I slowly scanned left to right.

_And where is she? The magical girl who save me, that is._

Kyubey’s tail twitched, but its face remained impassive. _Unfortunately, it does not seem that she will be coming back here. That is actually partly why I want to talk to you. My task is to recruit more magical girls. In exchange for granting a single wish, a girl contracts with me to become a magical girl and live a life of fighting witches. This city needs a magical girl. So, would you like to make a contract with me? You have plenty of potential._

I would have been spazzing out if I wasn’t so spent. _Me? A magical girl?_ All I could do was nod numbly. Of course I would! I couldn’t pass up an opportunity for magic or getting a wish granted. An opportunity for my own fantastical adventure is what I’ve always dreamed of! In the back of my mind, the logical part of me thought, _I must be in a dream._ Perhaps it started when I climbed out of bed and through my window. Regardless of the nature of this encounter with Kyubey, I wanted to go along with it for as long as I could.

_Can I take some time to think about what I wish for?_ I asked.

_Yes. I will be around, so when you are ready, just call out my name. We are connected mentally now, so I will hear you._

As it started to walk away, I sent, _Wait! Can I call for you if I have any questions about magical girls or wishes?_

 _Of course. I look forward to it, Dresden._ With a slight bow of the head, Kyubey trotted off and disappeared into the night.

After a moment to compose myself, I stood up, brushing snow off my clothes and hair. My first few steps were shaky, but I found my balance and began walking home. The environment was no longer hostile, though I did find myself wishing I had brought my headphones, or even my phone for that matter.

My mind was abuzz from my encounter with Kyubey, and I marveled at how in an instant my life went from the lowest point, even death’s door, to being granted what I’ve always wanted. Possibly. If this was real, instead of some scenario my brain cooked up while I was sleeping as a way to cope with all of my hurt. But even if this wasn’t real, maybe the dream girl had finally found the dream where she belonged. I must savor it while it lasts.

After going over our conversation again in my head, I realized, _I never told Kyubey my name._

I shivered, folding my arms to my chest. The night was cold, but I was alive and, for the first time in three years, hopeful.


	2. Technicalities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If I only get one wish, I need to make sure I don't mess it up."

Armed with a brand new composition notebook that I titled, “WISH WARRIORS,” I floated along through the next seven days like a tube on a lazy river. The notebook never left my side, and my mind never left the notebook. Inspiration could strike at any time, after all, and I had to be sure to record all of it. The group project in English, cross country, homework, family responsibilities – I put all of that on autopilot. Who cares if other people get angry with me for not paying attention or are creeped out by my sinister-sounding chuckles that accompany every new idea. My entire life was going to change, anyway, and really soon at that, supposing that what happened that night was not actually a dream. When people asked me some variation of “What are you doing?” I simply answered, “Working on one of my stories.” Since no one cared to know anything about my stories, they left me alone after that. _Works for me._

The reason I asked Kyubey for a week to think over my wish wasn’t because I didn’t know what I wanted to wish for. I’ve carried the same wish in my heart for as long as I’ve been able to play make-believe, and every time I saw a shooting star, every Birthday when I blew out the candles on my cake, I fervently prayed for that wish to come true. No, I didn’t need a single moment to decide _what_ I want to wish for. What I needed was time to work out the details. If I only got one wish, I had to ensure that everything about it went exactly how I envisioned it. _Kyubey mentioned a single wish, but I wonder. . ._

_Hey, Kyubey?_ I held my breath, waiting for a response.

_Yes, Dresden, I am listening._

_Oh, cool. Guess this is real, huh? Either that or I’m hallucinating, which wouldn’t be the first time._

_I assure you that I am very real, though I do not suppose I can do anything to prove it to you?_

_Not really. Oh, but that’s not why I want to talk to you. Here’s my first question: can I wish for more wishes? Like, can I wish for you to grant me multiple wishes instead of one?_

_You don not start off with an easy question, do you? The short answer is no. That is outside my power, and even if it was not, granting multiple wishes would make your magic too unstable._

_What if I wished for the ability to grant wishes myself?_

_While you could, that sort of power requires a huge amount of magic. You would likely lose all of your magic trying to grant one wish, let alone many._

_What happens if I lose all of my magic? Can I get it back?_

_Depleting your magic is extremely dangerous. While it is possible to restore it, in most cases the magical girl meets a tragic end with a witch before that could happen._

_Dang. So fighting witches is no joke._

_It is a serious commitment, but as long as you are cautious you’ll be fine._

_Can’t a magical girl hide from witches her whole life and avoid the dangers of fighting, though? Technically speaking._

_No. A magical girl’s magic depletes gradually over time, and like I mentioned earlier, a magical girl with no magic is the perfect prey for a witch._

_So how do I keep myself from running out of magic?_

_A magical girl has a soul gem that indicates how much magic they have. Its bright glow dims the more magic is used. When a witch is defeated, it drops something called a grief seed. Grief seeds can be used to remove the accumulated darkness from your soul gem, restoring your magic._

_Ah, so magical girls fight witches for more than just obligation, then._

_Yes. A magical girl must continue to fight witches in order to retain their magic and survive. That is why it is their destiny to battle witches._

_Help me understand the concept of magic. What is it, exactly?_

_That’s a rather broad question. Magic manifests from a magical girl’s soul gem according to their will, and the type of magic they have and how strong it is depends on their wish and their potential for magic, respectively. Though there are things in common that most magical girls can do with magic, so long as they can imagine it. Does that answer your question?_

_Yeah, I guess. I imagined if magic was real it would be a hard magic system with strict rules, but instead it’s a soft magic system. That surprises me a bit. So what is my potential for magic?_

_I’d say your potential is slightly above the average. As long as you fight smart you should have no problems hunting witches._

_That’s good to hear. Thanks for answering my questions._

_Of course. Do not take too long deciding on your wish, OK?_

_I won’t._

Getting into it, my wish had two parts. One part was the fantastical adventure. I figured that fighting witches and wielding magic already fulfilled that requirement. That left the other part – the characters, my teammates, my loyal friends on this adventure. Since I was going to be bringing them into the real world, instead of me going to a fantasy world, this was where things got technical.

First, I needed to decide on which characters. Every new adventure I wrote for the Dream Warriors brought in new main characters, and the core team of heroes, while it had some permanent members, was usually a revolving cast depending on what world they were saving. The trick would be narrowing it down. I wanted a decently sized team, but not so big that I’d get lost amongst them, like what happens to me at gatherings with extended family.

_Hey Kyubey?_

_Yes?_

_How big is a team of magical girls, usually?_

_It depends. Many magical girls prefer to fight solo, though a pair teaming up or even a group of three is not uncommon. Any number above that is rare._

_Dang._ Only teaming up with one or two of my Dream Warriors wasn’t nearly what I wanted. I thought of how many main characters I could comfortably juggle at a time while writing.

_What about a team of five?_ I asked.

_Unless that team’s territory was swarming with witches, I would not recommend a group that sizeable. You would run into a problem of supply vs demand. The amount of magic used by the girls to defeat a witch would be greater than the amount of grief seeds they would earn to restore that magic._

_I gotcha. What’s this about territory, though?_

_It is natural for a magical girl or magical girl team to have a territory staked out, that way other magical girls cannot swoop in and poach hunts._

_Which would also cause the problem of supply vs demand._

_Exactly. You are quick to understand. I have high hopes for you as a magical girl._

_Thanks. That’s all for now._

After that conversation, I settled on a team of five. Despite Kyubey’s warning, I felt confident that I could make it work. Anything less seemed like too little, anyway. So four characters. Which ones?

I started with the two characters I knew I could not do without. Their names are Epsilon and Fieros. They were the only two Dream Warriors who were about the same age as me, and I included them in every story, without exception, along with myself.

Epsilon was my best friend character, a position she earned from being my first imaginary friend, starting out as an Espeon Pokédoll plush and growing up with me over the years to become a human esper who fought with a hurricane of weapons. Her defining feature was her eye patch. Her left eye was stolen from her by her eyeless doppelgänger who came to life because her emotions, amplified by her ESP, became so uncontrollably powerful that they separated from her and became their own person. Anyway, she had the most raw power out of my Dream Warriors, but she only use it to protect her friends. Her level head made her dependable, and her refreshing bluntness added to her “charm.”

Fieros was the, well, _fiery_ “bad boy” of the team. He started out as a devil-may-care vandal who either “blessed” a city with his artful graffiti or “cursed” a city by burning as much as of it as he could to the ground using his pyrokinesis, in attempt of bringing “justice” to a world without justice. After we showed him what true justice is, Fieros decided to put his efforts into being a hero as part of the Dream Warriors. He dressed, looked, talked, and acted like a thug, but deep down he had a heart of gold. His quick temper was also an act to hide his brilliant analytical mind. His lack of hesitation and hot rod speed made him an ace on the team. Unfortunately, his being a delinquent caused people to dislike him or even pick fights with him more often than not.

Suddenly, I found a glaring problem with Fieros’s character in relation to my wish.

_Hey Kyubey?_

_Yes? Are you ready to make your wish?_

_Not quite. So my question: we’ve mentioned magical girls this entire time, but are there any magical boys?_

_No._

_Is it possible for a magical boy to exist?_

_No. While technically possible, since girls generally have more potential for magic than boys, I only make contracts with girls. I have never made a contract with a boy, and I will never have to in the future._

_Yeah, I guess it’s not like the world will run out of girls. OK, thanks. That’s all._

Despite my idea being shut down, I knew that this inconsistency had an easy fix. Fieros would still be a part of my team.

Which left the last two slots. There were so many to choose from, at least twenty, probably more. Who would be best? The answer required much deliberation. To decide, I plugged my flash drive into the family computer and clicked on the folder labeled “character bios.” Though familiar with the contents, I read through each bio of every character I’ve created for the Dream Warriors series, and then considered how they would be in the real world and what their dynamic would be within the team. I starred the ones that stood out to me, and when I finished going through all of them, I went back through those starred candidates and put them in a bracket. It was time for the tournament arc! Except in this tournament, the two finalists would join forces instead of going head to head. The champions were:

Phantom Thief Shanoa. Like her title suggests, she was a master thief who targeted the most heinous of criminals. She was also a wandering adventurer who had the same power as the Dream Warriors, which was to travel to different dream worlds. Her backstory changed every time people ask her about it, and every time she told a story so outrageous that most people didn’t believe her anyway. No heist was too big for her because she did it for the thrill, though fame and fortune were nice bonuses. While she never joined my Dream Warriors officially, she had teamed up with us on multiple occasions. Her strengths were her master improv skills and her knack for smooth talking herself through any situation. Her weaknesses were her tragically terrible sense of direction and how no one can ever tell whether or not she is being serious, but I thought those points were likeable, too. Her quirky cuteness and constant genuine enthusiasm were what won her the tournament.

And the Weeping Witch, Fantasia. She was a benevolent witch who every twilight would sing an aria of harmonious living from a high tower, which made the town she lived in known throughout the world as a place of peace and good will. However, when her betrothed died (cause of death: something very tragic that I hadn’t thought of yet), she fell into overwhelming despair, signified by the constant stream of tears overflowing down her face. As a result, her disconsolate arias stopped promoting good will and instead became a curse that transformed the citizens of her town into thoughtless man-eating beasts. Her stand-out feature was her pure white hair, which billowed behind her like a cloud and trailed on the floor like a veil. Personality-wise, she was cold and sharp to outsiders, but warm and gentle to her loved ones. I’ll admit bias toward her because she is the most recent character that I’ve created for my stories, and everything about her from her looks to her story to her powers was gothic, which was currently my favorite aesthetic. Basically, I felt drawn to her in a way that I was not drawn to the other characters, which ultimately won her the tournament.

Now that my team was set, I spent the remainder of the week jotting down their character bios into my composition notebook. Of course, heavy adjustments had to be made in order for these fantasy characters to become real life people and my peers. Even I had a character bio, since I was also part of the team and there were some changes to my “character” that I wanted to make. Personality descriptions, physical descriptions, new backstories, details about our personal lives, their wishes, how we met, and more – I spared no detail. The more that was written about them, the more fleshed out they would feel as people. I wasn’t worried about the scarcity of information, though, thanks to a note that I added in parenthesis before the character bio section: (Fate will fill in the remainder of their lives that I did not write and make them whole persons.)

Lastly, I added in as many notes as I dared about what life should be like as a Dream Warrior, I mean Wish Warrior. _I have to make sure that all five of us would actually be a team instead of just a friend group, otherwise this wish will fundamentally fail. We need something to unify us, tie us together. . . Ah yes,_ that _would be perfect!_ “Hehehehehe,” I chuckled once again.

Thanks to sudden inspiration, I also wrote in a bonus character. While he wouldn’t be a member of the team, he would still play an important role _to_ our team. His name was Chubbs. While he didn’t always travel with the Dream Warriors, he was usually in the story anyway because he was the boss of our “hero hangout spot.” While that place’s appearance changed to blend in with the dream world we were currently adventuring in, it was always where we would go whenever we needed a team discussion, some fantastic food, or relaxation after a quest. Chubbs always provided the best in local cuisine – which he cooked himself – and atmosphere. His friendly yet imposing aura made him liked and respected by the normal folk, too.

Following the practice of good editing, after I felt like I included everything about my wish that I needed to, I let the notebook sit for a day on my desk untouched. Afterwards, I read through it several times, adding in some bits here, adjusting some parts there. Once I could read through it without feeling the need to change it, I knew it was finally time. I included two last important notes, one at the very beginning and one at the very end. The Wish Warriors notebook was complete.

_Hey Kyubey._

_Yes?_

_I’m ready to make my wish._

It was Sunday night, and my family had all turned in for the night. Only the nightlight illuminated my room, but the low blue glow was enough for me to see. I was supposed to be asleep, after all. Kyubey instantly appeared at my window, and I opened it for him. He leapt inside gracefully and sat on my bed. His red eyes seemed to stare into my soul.

_Alright, Dresden. Tell me: what is the wish that will make your soul gem shine?_

“I wish,” I said, my voice trembling. I took a deep breath to steady myself. I had to speak aloud to make sure that I said the words of my wish exactly as I rehearsed them, without potential interference from other thoughts. “I wish to bring the Wish Warriors to life, according to the dictation of this notebook.” I held out my composition notebook toward Kyubey.

A sudden overwhelming asphyxiation afflicted me, and I doubled over out of pain that I had never experienced the likes of before. It was like my body was trying to turn itself inside out through my throat. I clutched my notebook tightly to my stomach in reflex, all thoughts gone, capable of doing nothing but waiting out the pain.

A few seconds later, a bright light floated out from my mind (visually, from my forehead) into the air above me. Immediately the pain that wracked me disappeared as mysteriously as it came, and I could breathe again.

 _The contract has been made._ Kyubey sent, his matter-of-fact tone slightly more theatrical as he too “spoke” what must have been a well-rehearsed line. _Your wish has overcome entropy. Go now and unleash your new power upon this world!_

I instinctively reached up and caught that sparkling ball of light between my hands. I opened them up at eye level to reveal a pretty oval object made of glass with the same size and aesthetic as an ornate chess piece. It glittered a bright turquoise.

_My soul gem._ Relief, excitement, and apprehension washed over me as the implications of this object settled in my mind like it had settled in the palms of my hands. As I stood for a moment in awe, my eyes must have been glittering the same as my soul gem.


	3. The Round Table

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Please don't let this be just a dream. . ."

I awoke in absolute disorientation. “Who. . . What. . . Where. . . ?” I had to speak my thoughts aloud to process them, but even then I couldn’t form complete questions. I tried sitting up and promptly lied back down on my bed out of dizziness. I held up my right arm in front of my face to anchor myself in this spinning world, and a sparkle caught my eye. Suddenly my vision came into sharp focus on a silver ring with intricate arabesque carvings adorning the ring finger on my right hand. The sparkle came from the single turquoise jewel resting atop of it.

“That’s right. My soul gem.” I remembered last night. Kyubey, my wish, the notebook inscribed, “Wish Warriors.” But what about the nights before? Instead of memories all I found was a swirling black smog and the emotion at its core – dreadful loneliness.

I stood up again, this time staying on my feet. I examined myself in the bedroom mirror. My olive complexion wasn’t unnaturally pale, and my bright blue eyes weren’t unfocused. I didn’t _look_ out of sorts, at least. After getting dressed in my usual primarily black ensemble and bone Hawaiian necklace, I threw on one of my zipper hoodies and, since it was a school day, I tied my curly dark brown hair back into a high ponytail. Beside the uncharacteristic sluggishness, I moved through my school day morning routine like normal.

“Have a good day, sweetie,” Mom said as I walked out the door. I managed a “you too” and a half-hearted wave back. I already plugged in my headphones and was browsing my phone’s music library. I needed something that matched my strange dark mood. I put Silversun Pickups on shuffle as I took my seat on the bus, closing my eyes and losing myself in the heavily distorted funk of nu-gaze.

At the next bus stop I felt someone sit next to me, then a tap on my shoulder. I lowered my headphones and looked over at her. Tan skin, blond hair braided back on one side in corn rows and pulled down over the other side from the top, one heavily pierced ear, one indigo eye peeking at me, a familiar and cute smile. . . She leaned her head closer to me.

“Silversun Pickups, right?” Her voice was like a less cutesy, more melancholic Breanne Düren. It totally didn’t match her rock n roll aesthetic. “I already listened to their first album last night. I really like it. You’re good at picking out music I’ll like.”

For the life of me I couldn’t stop staring at her.

When she got no response she knocked on my head lightly. “Hellooo, ground control to space cadet.”

My unblinking eyes teared up.

Her smile faded to concern. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

I found my voice, though it was weak and cracked. “Epsilon? Is it really. . . you?”

“I thought we agreed not to use those nicknames anymore, _NEON BLACK,_ ” she said, making another pass at a casual tone. When it didn’t seem to have the effect she intended, she pulled me into a warm embrace. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m here.”

My tears rolled down slowly at first, but they sped up to me having an all-out breakdown on her shoulder. “Is this a dream?” I asked. I clung tightly to her, anticipating that she would vanish at any moment.

“Nope,” she answered.

I went on as if she hadn’t spoken, memories tumbling out at the same rate as my words. “I was all alone, and I was being attacked by shadows with sinister smiles. They were poking me and drowning out my music. I tried running away but they were everywhere – in front, behind, all around. The only way I could escape them was jumping. . . off. . . I. . . I might be dead.”

“What about before then?”

“Huh?”

“What happened before the shadows attacked you?”

“I. . . don’t remember.”

“That’s because it was another of your nightmares, Drez. Now think back to yesterday. What do you remember?”

It took me a moment to switch tracks. “Our families had Sunday dinner together again. It was your family’s turn to cook, and we had paella and homemade churros. It was really yummy. We did our usual band exchange. You recommended Snarky Puppy, and I recommended Silversun Pickups.”

“Stop,” she said. “Now, what do you remember about Saturday?”

“We all went to Fantasia’s recital, and afterward we celebrated with cookies and hot cocoa at Andy’s. Fantasia’s parents were angry that she snuck off with us.”

“Stop. Now what do you remember about last year? Anything.”

“Last Christmas we visited a botanical gardens for their Christmas lights. It was pretty but the plants weren’t very exotic.”

“There. Those are your real memories. Do you feel better now?”

“Yeah. Thanks Luca.” My tears dried up as my mind anchored itself to my real life memories and stabilized. This was the real me – here, with Luca, and my other friends, too, living out our days together, chasing our dreams, and making memories. Not the me that was all alone in the dark being antagonized by the dark with nothing to look forward to or behind at except the dark. That was just a nightmare. A long running, horrifying nightmare, but only that and nothing more. My delirium dispersed like morning fog to the noonday sun.

“So. . . Are you gonna let go?”

“Nope.” I held her tighter. “You can’t escape my clutches!”

She chuckled. “ _Oscuridad debajo_.” She shifted into a more comfortable position, one arm still wrapped around me.

“You know,” I said quietly, “this nightmare felt especially real. My other nightmares were bad, yes, but not on this level. Everything about it was so _normal_. The setting, the daily life, the people. . . Except you weren’t there. Neither were the others. It was like y’all were never there to begin with. Instead, my only companion was pain inflicting despair. I didn’t fight it. I couldn’t fight it. It was so strong and horrible that I even tried to. . . kill myself.” The intensity of the disgust in my voice shocked me enough to shut me up.

Luca patted my head. “Hey, don’t let that get you down. Remember, that was the _dream_ you, not the real you. You’d never do that.”

I nodded a solemn agreement and sighed. “Thanks for listening. Sorry for being so depressing.”

Luca flicked her left hand across her face, brushing aside her hair for a brief reveal of her custom white eyepatch overlayed with a black e. The familiar gesture made me smile.

“So putting the nightmare aside, how did last night go?” Luca asked.

I released her from my grasp but didn’t scoot away. I held up my right hand.

She grinned, pulled back her arm from around me, and held up her own hand next to mine. We wore matching rings, though her gemstone was indigo colored.

“Why can’t it be after school already,” I lamented.

“I know right? And school is gonna be sooooo slow today.” She stretched as she said that.

I grabbed her hand. “Hey, wanna skip?”

“You serious?”

“We won’t have to wait for school to end to practice our magic.”

“You already know my answer.”

“C’mon, I can text the others. We’ll all skip.”

“It won’t work.”

“They don’t have to know we started without them.”

“No.”

“At least tell me your wish. I’m _dying_ of curiosity.”

She gave me a look.

“Fiiiiiiiiine.” I heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Be boring.”

That was about when the bus doors opened and we arrived at Vela Nova High. I begrudgingly let Luca’s hand go. Despite feeling mostly back to normal, I couldn’t shake this strange déjà vu, like I had waited an entire lifetime for this moment to meet and talk with and hold Luca, like we hadn’t just seen each other yesterday, or any day before. I shook my head rapidly, trying to clear out all of the weirdness residue from my nightmare. One would think that after experiencing nightmares like this for three years, I’d have gotten used to that emotional car crash in slow motion, but unfortunately in every instance, it’s like my brain travels back in time so that it can wreck for the first time all over again. _Praise the sun for having Luca to set me straight._

School was even more painfully long and boring than usual, just as Luca predicted.

Fast forward to after school. After sending Mom a text letting her know that I’d be out doing homework with my friends, I walked over to the parking lot and looked around. Almost immediately I noticed an undesirable leaning against a purple 1990 Toyota Supra. She was a tenth grader, a Japanese girl with a fluffy mohawk dyed red and clothes that screamed 70’s punk rock. How carefully arranged her outfit was with all of its different pieces and accessories seemed to undermine the rebelliousness that it was supposed to represent, but it was certainly stylish. And most definitely against the dress code.

“Yo Drez!” she called, waving me over, though the gesture was unnecessary. My friends really stood out.

I walked over. “Sup, Fi?” I greeted.

“Check it.” She held up her right hand, which had the silver ring. Her gemstone was a bright red-orange. I replied by flashing mine.

“Yo,” Luca greeted as she came over. She imitated my gesture, flashing her own ring, and the three of us grinned like idiots.

“Alright! Let’s go!” Fi said, and we hopped into the car. Luca sat shotgun.

Just barely managing to escape before the heavy after school traffic, Fi drove over to Vela Nova Middle’s pick-up zone. An eighth grader with dark skin, big 80’s hair dyed blue, purple, and pink, and dressed in the odd colorful patterns and messy-on-purpose style of new wave, flagged us down. Fi pulled over, and the girl got in. She immediately threw her arms around me and squeezed.

“Ohmygosh I’m so excited aren’t you excited you don’t look very excited WHY AREN’T YOU ACTING EXCITED?!” She shook me back and forth as she said that last bit.

I laughed, unable to formulate a more articulate response.

“Hey Shanoa be careful with our statue,” Fi said. “If you break her you have to pay for it.”

“Ooh, how much would it cost to fix you?” Shanoa asked me.

“At least a quadruple scoop ice cream cone,” I said.

“In the winter?” Luca asked.

“Ice cream tastes good no matter what the season!” I declared.

“Yeah!” Shanoa seconded.

“Yo Drez,” Fi said, and passed me the aux cord to her car’s stereo. I plugged in my phone.

“Any requests?” I asked, as always.

Luca and Fi declined, while Shanoa said, “Twisted Sister!”

“You got it,” I said, and played Twisted Sister’s essentials playlist. Fi cranked up the volume, and the Supra bumped along to the song.

We cruised like this, headbanging and singing along, until Fi parked in front of a designer house in the high roller neighborhood, Castle Gates. If there were any passersby, they’d surely have given us dirty looks.

I got out of the car and knocked on the front door – two slow, three fast. I heard a voice inside say, “It’s for me, I’ll get it,” followed by footsteps down stairs. The door swung open, and I came face to face with a girl my age. She was albino, with pale somewhat pinkish skin, very light blue eyes, and long fluffy white hair that reminded me of a cloud. She could have been a model in her cute designer clothes. The albinism would throw off most people, but to me she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.

“Ciao,” we both said at about the same time.

“This way, milady,” I said with a short bow in my best impression of a butler.

She giggled, which I counted as a win, and we got in the car, with me sitting in the middle of the back seat.

“Ciao,” she greeted everyone with a small wave. The others greeted her back.

“Howsit, Fantasia?” Luca asked, turning down the volume.

“My tutor got on my case because I was bit distracted, but otherwise today was fine,” Fantasia answered. “I’ve never wanted lessons to be over so badly before.”

“Totally,” Fi agreed. “I swear the clock was moving backwards at some points.” She blasted the volume again, killing further conversation. “Alright! Let’s go!” She shifted into gear, and the car zoomed away.

Twisted Sister served well as a preventative measure. I could tell Shanoa really wanted to talk about what was on everyone’s mind. I did too. _We’re all together now, so why hold off the conversation?_ I knew the answer to that question, but that didn’t quell my impatience. Thankfully, it was only a ten minute drive from Fantasia’s house to our usual spot.

We parked, got out of the car, and walked into Andy’s. The student crowd had already begun to trickle into the café, but it wasn’t crowded. Some B. B. King played just loud enough to enjoy, but quiet enough to enjoy a conversation. The tasteful music that played in Andy’s meant I never had to plug in to my own music while we hung here. Shanoa led us to a circular booth in the back corner that could fit all five of us, and then went back and through the double doors to the kitchen. She returned with a big dark skinned man in his forties with corn rows, a well-trimmed beard, and an intimidating aura. He was wearing the duds of a cook.

“Hello girls,” he said in a deep but friendly voice.

“Hi Boss,” we all greeted him.

“What can I get for you today?”

We all placed our orders, which consisted mostly of hot drinks and pastries. Fi ordered a specialty grilled cheese sandwich, fries, and a soda. Shanoa ordered me a quadruple scoop ice cream with cookie dough, cookies and cream, moose tracks, and mint chocolate chip – my favorites. Boss walked back into the kitchen with our order.

“Now,” I said dramatically, as if I was readying myself to give an inspiring speech. Instead, I transformed my ring into its original soul gem form and placed it down on the table. The other four followed suit, like we were King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Luca deferred to me. “Since you started it, how about you go first?”

“Hehehehehe!” My laugh sounded more evil than I intended, but I couldn’t help it. “I wished for this!” With both hands I thrusted the composition notebook I had fished out of my backpack into the center of the table for everyone to see.

“WTF is ‘Wish Warriors?’” Fi asked, reading the front cover.

“It’s the name of our band!”

“Hold up, isn’t that one of your volumes of ‘The Bible of the Dead’ from middle school?” Luca asked.

“No! Well, not exactly. I wrote this one specifically for my wish.” I jumped into the explanation before anyone else could comment. “Basically, in this volume, we are both magical girls and a rock band! A glam metal band to be exact. We use our magic by playing our instruments. Each person plays an important role, just like in a party from a fantasy RPG.”

Boss came back with everyone’s orders except Fi’s. “Here you are,” he said.

“Hey, how much longer until my food is ready?” Fi asked.

“Anything else?” Boss asked.

“Dad!” Shanoa scolded. “Don’t ignore Fi! How long until her order is ready?”

“Alright alright I’ll be back with it in a moment.” He went back into the kitchen.

We exchanged questioning and confused glances amongst ourselves but said nothing of Boss’s strange behavior.

“You know, Drez, if you wanted to start a band, you could have just said so,” Fantasia said after a sip of her tchai tea. “You didn’t have to waste a wish for it.”

“I know!” I said. “But I didn’t just want to be a band! I wanted magical instruments! And magical glam rock outfits! See, look!” I opened to a page inside my notebook where I drew concept designs for my outfit and displayed it.

“That is heavy metal AF,” Fi commented.

“Nice,” Luca said.

“Ooh, where’s mine?” Shanoa said, grabbing at the notebook.

I pulled it back. “The only outfit I designed was my own. I thought it would be more fun if everyone’s outfits were based on their personalities. Same with what instruments y’all end up with, and what those instruments can do. I didn’t want to interfere with your own magic and wishes. I just. . . directed them toward a certain aesthetic. I can’t wait to see how the instruments and outfits turned out for real!”

“OK, so are we an actual metal band, or is it just our ‘aesthetic’?” Luca asked.

“Well I thought it would be fun if we could be a real band. . . But, um, only if y’all want to, of course.”

I could see the thought roll through the minds of my friends. At this moment Boss came back with Fi’s meal. He placed it down on the table without a word and walked away. Ignoring his unnatural behavior, Fi grabbed the plate and began chowing down.

“Well?” I asked, not able to stand the deliberation any longer.

“Sounds good to me, mate,” Fi said with a mouthful of food. “I actually already play an instrument.”

“Being in a band sounds fun!” Shanoa said. “But I don’t play an instrument. Is that OK?”

I nodded vigorously. “Of course! Every band has to start somewhere.”

_Clink!_ Fantasia set down her mug of tea on the plate that her cinnamon roll used to occupy. All eyes turned to her. “I know much about music theory, which could help us all become better musicians and songwriters,” she said, and my eyes lit up. “However, I’ll only offer my help if everyone is in agreement to this band idea. I don’t want to waste any of our time, and practicing music is no small commitment.” She took another sip of her tea, her piece spoken.

I turned to the last of us. “Luca?” I felt a bit ashamed at how small and pleading my voice sounded.

She met my gaze and laughed – not a mere chuckle, but a good five second laugh.

“What? What’s so funny?” I pouted.

“This wish is so _you,”_ Luca answered finally. “Of course you wish to bring one of your fantasies to life. You are still the same NEON BLACK you were as a twelve year old after all.”

“ _Lucatiel_ ,” I said, increasing the intensity of my pout.

“Alright, alright. Of course I’m in! I thought that went without saying.”

I reached over Fantasia to swat at Luca. “You had me worried that you’d say no! Meanie!”

Luca retaliated with a noogie. “You’re just too fun to mess with, you know that?”

“Ahem,” Fantasia coughed, and the two of us quickly sat back in our seats. “With that sorted, we should—”

“What the heck happened to my fries?!” Fi interrupted. Sure enough, most of her fries had “mysteriously” vanished.

“It was the french frie filcher Phil the Flamingo! He’s making a run for it over there!” Shanoa said, pointing toward the entrance. Even though her creative ruse didn’t work on Fi at all, Shanoa still nabbed the last of the fries and stuffed them in her mouth.

“Oh yeah? Well ‘Phil the Flamingo’ is gonna learn what happens when she steals my fries!” Fi declared and proceeded to tickle Shanoa, who was in easy reach since they were sitting right next to each other.

“Stop!” Shanoa tried to say, but between the laughing and the mouthful of fries she didn’t manage too well. Tears (of laughter) were already staining her cheeks.

“What do you think of The Incredibly Ticklish Shanoa for her next title?” I asked Luca.

She shook her head and replied, “I stand corrected; we’re _all_ still twelve year olds.”

“Fieros, _please_ , we’re in a public place,” Fantasia admonished. To us, tickling Shanoa, who had a sensitive sense of touch, was the easiest way to subdue her, not to mention fun, so we did it often. To onlookers, it probably seemed as inappropriate as it sounded.

“Right,” Fi conceded and stopped her onslaught. Shanoa was doubled over, her laughter now wheezing. She had spit out the fries. Despite Fantasia’s urgent tone and how rowdy we were being, no one in the restaurant paid us any mind.

“I’ll go next, since I seem to be the only mature one at the table,” Fantasia said. “My wish was simple. I wished that my parents would actually listen to me.”

“How is that working out for you?” I asked.

“I don’t know yet. I haven’t seen my parents today, and they won’t be home until dinnertime.”

Fi went next. She said, “My wish was pretty simple, too. You know how adults are always getting on my case, and other kids like to pick fights with me? Well I’ve been sick of it for a while, so I wished that everyone would just leave me alone.”

Silence followed for a good fifteen seconds before Fi broke it. “What? Why are you all staring at me like that?”

“Fieros, are you some kind of stupid?” Luca said.

“What did you say?” Fi said, a challenge in her voice.

“See, this is why we shouldn’t have made it a rule that we can’t discuss wishes with each other before we made them,” Fantasia said. “To stop one of us from doing something like this.”

“Whaddya mean ‘something like this’?”

Suddenly Boss’s odd behavior toward Fi made sense.

“Fi,” I said, “You wished that everyone would leave you alone. Think about that for a moment.”

“I’ve thought about it the entire week. I don’t see a problem.”

Luca cut in. “Fi, just like you wished for, _everyone_ is going to leave you alone. Not just those adults or the jerks at school.”

“You’re gonna be ignored by everyone,” I finished.

“Oh,” Fi said. “[beat] I still don’t see a problem with that. Besides, y’all don’t ignore me, and that’s all I care about, really. Why do you think that is, by the way?”

“Probably because we’re all magical girls, so we’re resistant to each other’s wishes?” I guessed.

Fi shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Well, as long as you’re cool with it,” Luca said.

Next up was Shanoa. She had since composed herself, so she was able to talk normally again.

“I wished,” she began, but then suddenly leaned in and lowered her voice. We all leaned in closer to hear her. “I wished that my parents would stay together.”

“Wait, Boss and Andy were getting divorced?” Fi asked.

Shanoa nodded sadly.

“Man, I had no idea,” Luca said.

“Me neither,” I said. “Sorry to hear that.”

Fantasia said nothing, but she looked as surprised as the rest of us.

“It’s OK now,” Shanoa said. “Thanks to my wish, that divorce isn’t ever gonna happen." She smiled brightly.

Lastly was Luca. She hesitated. “My wish is a bit embarrassing,” she said. She took a breath. “I wished that I had protected my sister on that day.”

I instantly knew what day Luca was referring to. It happened six months before I moved to Vela Nova, and she had just gotten out of the hospital the day before I met her. But according to what Luca and her family all told me, Luca was the only one who got hurt. She _did_ save her sister.

“So you saved Nico because of your wish?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“What happened originally?” Shanoa asked.

“A car drove into us while we were crossing the street. Somehow I managed to leap out of the way. My sister was hit head on. She died instantly.” Her eyes became glassy, and her voice gained an edge. “Ever since then, I’ve regretted how I reacted. I should have pushed her out of the way. It should have been me, the older sister, giving her life for her younger sister.”

“Are you saying that you made this wish expecting to _die?!”_ I said, louder than I meant to, but I couldn’t keep the horror out of my voice.

“If that’s what it came down to.”

“How could you?! Traitor!” I blurted out without thinking. I felt tears welling up. Before the others could see them, I bolted out of my seat and out of the restaurant into the chilly late afternoon. I ran, wiping my eyes with my arm, not caring where I was going. Fi’s car was the only way home, anyway. I was so absorbed in hurt feelings that I didn’t hear the pursuing footfall. Suddenly arms wrapped around me from behind, stopping me in my tracks.

“I’m sorry!” Luca said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Do you realize what could have happened because of your wish?” I said. “You could have died in that crash, and then we never would have met.” Last night’s nightmare flashed through my mind. “And maybe I would have died, too.”

“[beat] Here, let’s sit down.” I let Luca lead me over to the nearby memorial bench. She took a deep breath and continued. “I swear I wasn’t planning on dying. I just really wanted Nico back. You used to know this, but after the crash, even though I came out of it with no broken bones, my mind did break. I saw Nico’s ghost whenever I was alone. She whispered to me how much she hated me, how selfish I was, how she should have been the one to live, how I should have protected her, even if that meant dying. And I believed her. The guilt and grief was so unbearable that I couldn’t speak.

I watched Luca silently as she told me this alternate history. She was hunched over, eyes to the ground.

“When you and I met, this was what I was going through. We saw each other because our parents became friends, but we weren’t really friends ourselves. Not until I became so delirious that I stabbed my own eye out because I was convinced it would free me from Nico’s hauntings. Of course, it didn’t, and I had to be hospitalized to treat my eye and my psychosis. You started visiting me at the hospital, and the rest is pretty much the same as you remember it now. You helped me come out of myself and keep living, despite my grief. But the grief never went away. When Kyubey told us that it could grant us any wish, I—”

“I’m sorry,” I said suddenly.

“What?” Luca finally met my gaze.

“I called you a traitor, and it was totally wrong of me. You’re so devoted to your sister. You’re the most opposite of a traitor anyone could be.”

Luca nodded. “I love my sisters, and I’d do anything for them.”

“Sisters? But isn’t Nico your only sibling?”

“No. I have another sister right here.” She wrapped me in another of her hugs. “And I would never abandon her, ever.”

“D-dummy, you’re making me cry again.”

“Well that’s not right. I’m supposed to be the one to wipe your tears away, not cause them.”

“M-me too. If you need to cry, my arms are here for you.” I hugged her back.

“I know.”

“Though since Nico is back, I guess you’ll be OK.”

Luca chuckled. “Yeah. But who knows what will happen in the future.”

“No matter what happens, together we’ll make it through anything.”

“ _Oscuridad debajo._ You still say the cheesiest stuff.”

“And you still say _‘oscuridad debajo.’”_

“Hahaha yeahhh you got me there.”

It was then that the purple Supra pulled up to the curb. The windows facing us rolled down, and Fi cat called, which Shanoa followed up with, “Hey, you two should kiss!” That earned Shanoa one of my death metal glares, but my face burned red in spite of myself. Luca just laughed.

“You good now?” Luca asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

We both climbed in the back of the car with Shanoa, and they rolled up their windows. Fi flashed us a dirt-eating grin.

“If you don’t wipe that smug smile off your face, I’ll do it for you,” Luca warned with a raised fist.

“I’d like to see you try,” Fi taunted.

“Everyone ready for our first witch hunt?” Fantasia asked, ignoring the feuding pair’s typical blustering.

“Wooo!” Shanoa exclaimed.

“Let’s goooooo!” I said.

“Heck yeah!” Luca and Fi affirmed.

The purple Supra peeled out, blasting my pump up music of choice, Powerwolf, and zooming onward toward our new magical days.


	4. Treasured Memory ~ My First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Sometimes it is hard to tell when exactly two people become friends, but as for me and Luca, I will never forget that moment."

August, three years ago. Nurse Katherine showed me into the room of Vela Nova Children’s Hospital where Lucatiel sat up in her bed with a laptop on a fold out desk extended over her lap. A heavy-duty bandage had been placed over her left eye. I stood at the door.

“Um, hi, Lucatiel,” I said with a small wave of my hand. She looked at me for a moment to wave back, and then her attention returned to the computer screen.

“Go on,” Nurse Katherine prodded. I hesitantly took a few steps inside, and the nurse closed the door, leaving me and Lucatiel the only people in the room.

I sat in the chair beside the bed and looked over at the screen. Two teams of guys kicked a ball while an MC spoke in rapid and excitable Spanish.

“What are you watching?” I asked.

Lucatiel pulled up a white board and wrote on it in marker, _La Liga._

“What’s that?”

_Spain’s football league._

“Oh. That’s right. You and your family are really into soccer, aren’t you?”

She nodded and tapped the word ‘football’ with her marker.

“Sorry, I meant football. Why does the US call it soccer, anyway? The name football makes way more sense for this sport than the one this country actually calls football.”

She shrugged, her focus still on the football match.

After a beat of silence, I tried, “So, um, how are you doing?”

She shifted her focus to me but didn’t bother to pause the video. She gave a ‘so-so’ gesture with her hand.

“Does your eye hurt? Or, I guess it’s not your eye because your eye isn’t there anymore. . .”

_It hurts, but they give me a steady supply of painkillers, so it’s manageable,_ she said, using her whiteboard.

“Well that’s good.”

She nodded and was about to turn back to the football match, but I managed to push through my anxiety to say more, keeping her attention.

“Um, do you like music?”

She nodded.

I fidgeted. “I was thinking that if you want to we could listen to music together. I have wireless earbuds and Apple Music, so we can take turns picking songs, or something.”

She closed her laptop and held out her hand, her one eye watching me expectantly. I shyly avoided her gaze as I fished the other earbud out of the case in my pocket (I already had one in my ear) and, after double-checking that it was clean, placed it in her hand. While she put it in her ear, I took out my phone from my other pocket and paused the Kyle Landry song I was listening to. With the phone resting between us so that we could both see it, I selected our first song: “Drifting” by Yellowcard.

“Yellowcard is the first band that I really got into, about a year ago,” I explained before pressing play. “Have you heard of them?”

She shook her head.

“They give off a fun punk-rock vibe, but their songs are more sentimental.”

I pressed the play button and adjusted to volume to just the right level of loud. With nothing to look at, we closed our eyes and let ourselves get lost in the music.

After the song finished, I paused the music again and asked, “So, what do you think?”

She gave a thumb up. I didn’t know whether to be glad that she enjoyed the song or disappointed that she didn’t give more of an answer.

The song she picked was “Aeroplane” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I peeked at her while we listened, and she was nodding along to the song. I secretly smiled a small smile. At least, I thought it was secret, but actually Lucatiel opened her eye at just that moment and caught it. I quickly turned away, my face reddening.

When the song finished, she wrote, _So what do you think?_

“I’ve heard of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I haven’t really given them a good listen,” I said. “I liked the song though. It was funky, and the bassist went crazy. The lyrics kinda reminded me of you." I said that last part before I could filter it out, so I scrambled to explain it away. “Ahhh not that I know you well enough to say that. I mean, they just seem to fit the situation you’re in at the moment is all.”

She wrote, _I love the funky bass in RHCP songs. RHCP is to bassists what Metallica is to guitarists. Every bass player wants to slap bass like Flea.”_

“No way! You play bass guitar? And you know Metallica?”

_Yeah I just started not that long ago. And who doesn’t know Metallica?_

My shyness vanished and my cadence sped up. “That’s so cool! I play piano myself. What made you want to start learning bass guitar?”

She shrugged. _I like how it sounds, it looked cool, and it looked like fun._

“Hahaha yeah I guess that was a dumb question since pretty much everyone starts an instrument for those reasons. So do you like heavy metal?”

She flashed the ‘rock on!’ devil’s horns. I could barely contain my excitement as I picked the next song: “Metal Meltdown” by Judas Priest. The rest of the day was spent headbanging to and sharing our favorite heavy metal songs.

Around 5:30pm my phone rang, interrupting “All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)” by Bullet for My Valentine, which was my choice.

“It’s time to go home,” Mom said. “Tell Lucatiel goodbye and come outside. I’m parked up front.”

“OK.” I hung up. “I have to go now,” I told Lucatiel. She handed me back the loaned earbud, which I put back into its case. “Um, I have something to admit. I came here to visit you because my mom told me to.”

Lucatiel pursed her lips and nodded.

“But! I had a lot of fun. I’ve never met someone else who likes heavy metal before. Well, except my dad, but I mean someone else my age. Would it be alright if I visited again tomorrow?”

Lucatiel gave a thumb up. I was so relieved that I smiled too much. She smiled back, her first smile that entire day, and my face flushed furiously. I stood up quickly. “Well, um, see you tomorrow then.” At the door I turned around and said a final, “Bye!”

She waved widely. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

Lucatiel was lying in bed, slumped over several pillows and watching something on her phone.

“You don’t look so good,” I said as I sat down in the bedside chair. She was pale, and her eye was bleary. She grimaced and shook her head. “What happened?” I asked.

She rolled over, picked up her whiteboard, and wrote, _My body doesn’t like the medication they gave me. I’ve been throwing it up all night, and I have a terrible headache._

“Oh. Sorry to hear that. Are you referring to your pain meds, or. . . ?”

_Antipsychotics._

“What are those for? Um, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

_They are supposed to keep me from hallucinating._

“Oh.” I fidgeted uncomfortably. I wanted to ask about it, but I couldn’t. “Is there something I can do for you?”

She shook her head. _Sorry. I’m not gonna be great company today. You should just go home._

“OK. Sorry if I’ve been a bother.” I sent Mom a text telling her to drive back to the hospital.

_You are not a bother._ She tapped the board twice for emphasis.

I felt bad that the sick person was comforting me and not the other way around. But that gave me an idea.

“Wait. Before I go. . .” I pulled a piece of paper out of my backpack, made it a square, and started folding it. “The ancient art of origami is a Mort family tradition that has been passed down the family line for GENERATIONS! Now, hold out your hand.” She did, and I gently placed a paper crane on her palm. “A paper crane is supposed to be a charm to help the recipient get well soon. According to legend, it takes a thousand to fully cure you, but I don’t have enough paper or patience. Sorry. I hope one still helps.”

Luca gave a bemused half-smile and nodded.

Mom texted back, “I’m here.”

“Well, time for me to go. Get well soon.” Right as I opened the door, I heard rapid tapping and turned around.

The whiteboard said, _phone #._

“Sure!” I returned to her bedside, and we exchanged numbers. I gave Lucatiel my phone so that she could spell her name for the contact info. She simply typed in, “Luca,” and handed my phone back. Then she gave me hers. I typed in, “Drez,” and gave it back.

“Bye Luca!”

She waved back, her whiteboard saying, _Bye Drez._

During the drive home, I couldn’t help staring at Luca’s name on my phone and smiling. _My first phone number from a friend._

D: How do you feel today?

L: Better. I don’t feel sick anymore, and the doctors are waiting til tomorrow to try out the next drug. They want to make sure this one is totally out of my system first.

D: Glad to hear.

L: You coming over today?

D: Yeah!

What do you want to do?

[pause]

L: I dunno.

Anything is fine, I guess.

D: I can bring my Switch. Wanna Smash Bros?

L: lol sure.

We could probably hook it up to the room’s tv if you bring the port.

D: Will do! What time?

L: I have therapy in the morning, then lunch around 12:30.

D: How about 1:00?

L: Yeah that works.

D: Great! See you later!

L: Hasta luego

Sure enough, with the nurse’s help, we hooked up my Nintendo Switch to the TV and accessed the hospital’s wi-fi.

“Wanna play doubles?” I asked as I sat down in the chair and booted up Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

Luca nodded, scooted over, and patted the space beside her on the bed.

“Ah thanks but I’m fine sitting in the chair. I don’t want to crowd you.”

She gave me a stern look and slapped the bed more forcefully.

“OK OK.” I gave in and reclined next to her, propped up by one of her pillows. The lack of available space meant we sat very close to each other, shoulders pressed together. My face felt very hot. Luca giggled and wrote, _Your face is red._

“Sh-shut up! I’m just not used to being this close to someone. It’s not like I _like_ you or anything. I mean, I do, but, um. . .” _Stop! Stop talking!_ The longer I tried to defend myself, the hotter my face felt.

_You sit here from now on._

I nodded, my head steaming and my dialogue on the matter exhausted. I selected King Dedede and Luca selected Lucas.

“Whose your other main, Lucario?”

_Yes, actually. But that’s a coincidence._ She underlined ‘coincidence.’

We won about 50% of the matches, better than the noobs but not on the same level as the pros. Despite Luca not speaking, she was just as animated as I was while playing.

About ten matches in, perhaps because we were literally closer now, I finally worked up the courage to ask, “Hey Luca, why can’t you talk?”

I held my breath, waiting for her to tell me it’s personal and none of my business. Instead she wrote, _The doctor said that it’s because of how my brain reacted to the trauma of losing my eye. Shock or something._

“Oh. Did the doctor say when your voice will come back?”

_My therapist said it should have come back already. She’s pretty worried. Or something. It’s kinda hard for me to tell if she actually cares or if it’s just part of her job._

“Sorry, this is a dumb question, but have you tried talking recently?”

Luca opened her mouth, made some quiet exhale noises, then closed her mouth and shook her head, eyes closed.

_It’s like the words get caught in my throat._

I grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry. I may not be a doctor, but I know you’ll get your voice back. After all, you didn’t damage your vocal chords.”

She smiled. _Thanks._

Suddenly aware of myself, I quickly let go of Luca’s hand and turned back to the game. “Oh. We’ve been kicked.”

Luca and I laughed.

D: How is the new medication? Have you taken it yet?

L: It turns out I’m allergic.

Lucky me.

D: Oh no! What happened?

L: I have hives. Like all over my body. The doctor stabbed my leg with an epipen.

D: That’s rough. How do you feel now?

L: Not as bad as before the epipen, but I feel raw and itchy. It hurts.

D: I guess that means I shouldn’t visit you today. 

L: No!

Please come over

You could help distract me.

D: Are you sure you’re up for it?

L: Yeah

I promise I’m not contagious.

D: OK. Same time, then?

L: Actually could you come earlier? I don’t have therapy today.

D: What time?

L: Anytime.

D: I won’t be getting in the way?

L: Nah. The doctor is done with me for today. Nurse Katherine is doing more frequent check-ups on me, but you know she doesn’t mind you.

D: Yeah she’s really nice. I’ll send you a text when I’m heading over.

L: Cool.

It was 10:30am when I arrived at Vela Nova Children’s Hospital.

“Oof, you look terrible,” I said. Luca looked like she had a wrestling match in a patch of stinging nettle. Her entire body was covered in agitated red splotches.

_I feel terrible,_ she wrote. As I moved to sit down in the bedside chair, she sat up, scooted over, and patted the bed beside her.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, so I complied. Her skin felt feverish.

“Do you like manga?”

_You mean Japanese comics?_

“Yeah.”

_I’ve never read one before._

“Well I was thinking that today we could marathon my most favorite story – _Fullmetal Alchemist_. It’s about these two brothers who committed the ultimate taboo of alchemy, trying to raise the dead, and as a result they lost their bodies. Now they are on a journey to get their bodies back, and meanwhile get wrapped up in a war and a conflict with the incarnations of the seven deadly sins. It has a fantastic cast of characters, and the magic system, alchemy, is so creative and cool. You interested?”

_But won’t you be bored since you’ve already read it?_

“Nah. I could read this story as many times as I want and still love it just as much. That’s how good it is. Besides, sharing what I like with my friend is its own fun. So you in?”

_Sure._

“Great! I brought all the volumes in my backpack. Um, if you get bored we can always do something else, OK? I won’t be sad or anything.”

She gave a thumb up.

I pulled out the first comic book, which had the first three volumes, and set it between us.

“You hold the left side, and I’ll hold the right side, like this. It reads right to left, so you can be in charge of turning the pages. And don’t worry about me – I’m a fast reader.”

Reading together was a quiet activity without much interaction, but I still enjoyed it all the same. At noon we breaked for lunch.

“Since I am here for lunch today, I packed lunch for the both of us.” I revealed a simple lunch with bagel and salami and cream cheese sandwiches, apples, barbeque kettle chips, brownies that Dad made last weekend, and powerade, green flavor. I pulled out a picnic blanket and stretched it out across our laps.

“I know this isn’t much of a picnic, you being in the hospital and all, but I thought you might like a change from your regular hospital lunch.”

_It looks great. Thanks!_

After explaining to Nurse Katherine what we were doing and receiving her permission, we had our picnic and discussed the story so far, though discussion was pretty sparse since Luca had to switch between eating food and writing on her whiteboard. When we finished and cleaned up, we dove back into _Fullmetal Alchemist._

About an hour in, I felt a sudden weight pressing on my shoulder. I looked up from the book. “Luca?”

Her head rested on my shoulder, her eyes closed. She gave no response.

I was flustered, but I dared not move for fear of waking her. A few minutes passed until I thought to close the book, but I stayed put. Another few minutes passed and I pulled out my phone and started watching Youtube videos. Since one of my earbuds was already plugged in, the room stayed quiet for the sleeping Luca. After about fifteen minutes of this, the nurse came in the room.

“Awww how sweet,” Nurse Katherine said in her friendly Southern accent, “Lucatiel finally found a comfortable pillow. She must be exhausted. The poor dear hasn’t been sleeping well since she got here.”

“I’m glad I could help,” I said, keeping my voice low. “How come she can’t sleep?”

The nurse looked up, a finger to her lips, considering the question. “Well, since you are her best friend and all, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for me to tell you.”

“Best friend?” I asked automatically.

“Aren’t you? You’re the only one who visits her beside her parents, and they only stay for dinner. You stick by her for most of the day. Though to be fair, her mother would stay here all day if Lucatiel would let her. ”

“Oh.” I always pictured Luca as someone who had many friends. I had never considered that she was like me; that I was her only friend, like she was mine. “I guess I am. I mean, yes, I am.”

The nurse gave some sort of approving nod and continued. “The truth is, Lucatiel is afraid of the dark, and we think she is afraid of being alone as well.”

She paused to see how I would react. I only showed concern.

“Is this because of her hallucinations?” I asked.

“I’m not allowed to go into specifics about her condition – hospital confidentiality and all that. But it’s safe to say that her hallucinations could be part of it. She’s also been through a traumatic experience and a scary surgery, and now she’s being kept in the hospital. That’s too much for most adults to handle, let alone an eleven year old girl.”

I glanced at Luca’s sleeping face on my shoulder. Instead of being serene as is apparently the norm for a sleeping person, her default expression was a pained one.

“Is there any way I can help her?”

“You’re already helping out so much with your visits,” Nurse Katherine said. “She’s much calmer when you’re around.”

Already a plan began to form in my mind based on the conversation between Nurse Katherine and I. “How about this?” I explained that plan to Nurse Katherine.

“I like it, and it would certainly help her, but the hospital hasn’t allowed anything like that before. And I doubt she would allow it herself.”

“That’s why we’re going to keep it a secret from her. Can you get permission for me?”

“I can certainly try. Are you good with staying like that for another ten minutes or so?”

“Yeah.”

“OK then, I’ll be right back.”

Nurse Katherine walked out of the room, leaving me and Luca by ourselves.

I glanced again at the sleeping Luca’s face, steeled myself, and slowly leaned my head down sideways to rest on hers. She made no sign of being disturbed. I thought about going the distance with “the move” and putting my arm around her, but I chickened out. Instead, my hands remained in my lap. I closed my eyes. I had never done something like this before. It stirred an unfamiliar emotion within me. _Is this what people mean when they say they have butterflies in their stomach? It feels more like moths to me._

Nurse Katherine came in about fifteen minutes later. I opened my eyes to find that she was beaming. “Good news: you have permission to carry out your plan.”

“Great!” I said a bit too loudly. For one apprehensive moment, Luca stirred, but she did not wake.

“ _But_ you need to get your parents’ permission first.”

“I know, I know.”

“If they need a little convincing, tell them that Lucatiels’ nurse thinks this is a great idea.” She winked.

“Thanks a bunch!”

Nurse Katherine came over and gently laid Luca down. “There. Now you’re free.”

“See you later, Luca,” I whispered. With one last glance at her sleeping form and the moths still fluttering about in my stomach, I grabbed up my belongings (leaving the comic we were reading behind in case she wanted to finish it) and left.

L: Thanks for coming over today.

Sorry I fell asleep on ya.

D: Itsall good.

L: You can come over tomorrow if you want, but my little sister is staying over pretty much all day.

D: My family is doing some last minute clothes shopping for school tomorrow anyway, so that works out.

Nico is so cute, though. I wish I could be there instead of clothes shopping. My parents somehow find a way to make it stressful instead of fun.

L: We could trade places if you want. :P

D: lol no thanks I’m good.

L: Well see you later then.

D: Yep. I’ll send you pics if I find some particularly *interesting* clothes.

L: OK but only if you model them for me.

D: Haha yeah maybe. ;p

Later!

L: Buenas noches

At 8:00pm I bust down the hospital door to Luca’s room, boldly declaring, “I am here!” Or at least, that’s how I imagined it going down in my head, but once I reached the door of the hushed hospital, there was no way I could do something so loud. I lightly knocked instead. Nurse Katherine opened the door for me. The look on Luca’s face was priceless.

She started to write on her whiteboard, but I walked over and grabbed her hands, unable to contain my excitement. “I bet you’re wondering what I’m doing here in my pajamas. Well, hmhmhmhmhmmm, the answer is simple. We’re having a sleepover!”

Luca looked to Nurse Katherine for some sort of explanation, and the nurse flashed a knowing smile, melting Luca’s confusion into cheerful acceptance.

“Now girls,” Nurse Katherine admonished while she changed Luca’s eye bandage and cleaned her eye socket, “The doctor allowed this only on the condition that you go to sleep when you’re supposed to. I know that sleepovers usually involve partying all night, but there’s no staying up late for a hospital girl if she wants to get better and go home. Understand?”

“We do,” I said.

Lights out was at 9:00pm. Nurse Katherine came in one more time to check up us, made sure we were ready for bed, and tucked us in. “Goodnight, girls,” she said.

“Goodnight,” I said. Luca lifted her arm up and waved.

The nurse turned out the lights and shut the door.

I turned over to face Luca. She was facing me. Our faces were only inches apart.

“Sorry, when I came up with this plan I forgot how small the bed is,” I said in a near whisper.

Luca shrugged. We stared into each other’s eyes, which was new territory for me. Normally I’d shy away from this level of intimacy, but I couldn’t look away. It was hypnotic.

“Um, don’t worry, I don’t snore or move around a lot in my sleep.”

She didn’t give any sort of acknowledgement. The longer our stare down continued, the hotter and hotter my face felt. _Thank goodness that it’s too dark for her to notice._

“We’re close enough to kiss,” I thought. Luca’s startled blinking tipped me off that I actually said that thought aloud. If my face was red before, then it was the deep-red-almost-purple of a beet now.

“N-n-n-n-n-not that I want to—” I hurriedly stammered, but stopped when Luca closed her hands around mine.

“Luca?” Before my brain could catch up to what was happening, she closed the distance between us, and her lips gently pressed to mine.

My immediate reflex was to pull back, but the tingling feeling that zig-zagged through my nerves relaxed me instead. When she released, I kissed her back. _This feeling, I never imagined that it would be so electric! I need more. . ._

As I moved in for another, Luca pushed me back, and I fell off the bed, hitting my head against the nightstand.

“Ow. . .” I complained noisily as I sat up and rubbed the hurt side of my head. I crawled back into bed to find an awfully embarrassed Luca. I could read the apology in her expression. For a blank moment we stared at each other again.

“. . .”

_Oh no, did I. . . ? Did we actually. . . ? Ohmygosh!_

With steam practically blowing out from both our ears, we faced ourselves away from each other simultaneously.

“G-goodnight!”

My hands covered my face and I squirmed in place, mortified at my own behavior. _What if she thinks I_ like _her now? But wait, she kissed me first. Does that mean_ she _likes_ me _? What do I do? I’m only a sixth grader; I don’t know how to deal with romance! Wait, is it even romance? Maybe I’m just reading too much into it. Gah, I don’t know! You’d think that I’d have a clue, since I dream so much about this kind of thing. . ._

I awoke from a lonely nightmare flat on my back and gasping for breath. It was the first of my recurring nightmares that presented a reality where Luca (and later my other friends) did not exist, instead replaced by a wave of negative emotions slowly tsunami-ing up around me.

I craned my head down to find a sleeping Luca, who was totally using me as a body pillow. One arm and leg lay across me, and her head rested on my chest. Unlike yesterday when she fell asleep while reading, she looked peaceful. Her warmth and steady breathing calmed me immediately. I plopped my head back down on my pillow and lied still, enjoying her closeness. _I wonder how comfortable that is, using someone else as a pillow. I want to try it sometime._

I raised my right arm up to check my watch – 5:30am. _What time does the nurse come? Not until awhile, probably._ I closed my eyes and let some day dreams play out until I felt Luca stir. As she moved off of me, I sat up and smiled at her.

“Good morning, Luca,” I said. “Did you sleep well?”

“G-good morning, Drez,” she rasped.

I sat stunned for a second, then wrapped her in a tight hug.

“I’m so glad,” was all I could say.

“Yeah,” was all she could say. She hugged me back just as tightly.

We stayed like that for a good moment.

“Y’know,” I said after a while, “I’ve never had someone to hug before. Not even my parents or my siblings. It’s nice.”

“We’ve gotten really close over the past week, haven’t we?” Luca agreed. A minute or so later, she pulled back and looked me square in the eye. “Listen, about last night. . .” She looked down, blushing.

“Um, yeah?” I apprehensively awaited her answer.

Her speech was slow as she struggled to come up with the right words. “I was just curious about what kissing is like. That’s all that was – two friends finding out what kissing is like. I don’t want weird stuff twisting our friendship into something less, so let’s not do it again. OK?”

“Oh. Yeah. OK.” _Pull yourself together, Drez! You don’t like Luca romantically (right?). And it’s not like she’s saying you can’t be friends anymore. Quite the opposite. . . Even so, why do I feel like I’ve been rejected?_

“And sorry for pushing you. I shouldn’t have freaked out on you, especially since I sorta started it.”

I waved my arms in front of me. “No, that’s OK! I don’t know what I was thinking, either. I guess I got caught up in the moment. Hahaha. . .” _But why can’t we kiss more and still be friends? I don’t get it!_

“And let’s not mention this to anyone else, either.”

“Agreed.”

An awkward silence ensued in which we tried looking everywhere except at each other. Eventually we decided to go to the washroom. When we returned, we both sat in bed.

“When will Nurse Katherine come in?” I asked.

“Not until 7:00am,” Luca said.

“Sooooo what do you want to do until then?”

She didn’t answer. After a brief pause, she said, “Thanks for sleeping over.”

“Of course!” I snapped a thumb up. “What are friends for?”

She chuckled, then fell serious again. “I know it wasn’t exactly fun, and the bed was too small, but it means a lot to me. I haven’t slept much lately. Every time I’m alone I hear voices, and in the dark I can see them, too – the evil spirits. They keep me up at night by saying mean things about me, threatening to hurt me, and staring at me with gleaming eyes and wicked smiles, like I’m their food. But they didn’t show up last night because you were here.”

“Are these the hallucinations you mentioned before?”

“Yeah. It’s the main reason I’m still in the hospital. They want to make sure I’m on medication that makes the hallucinations go away, so that I don’t hurt myself again.”

“Luca, you don’t mean that accident with your eye. . . wasn’t an accident at all?”

She nodded slowly. Her voice was strained. “I did it. I stabbed out my own eye with a kitchen knife. I believed it would make the evil spirits go away. Looking back now, I don’t know why I believed that.” She was crying now. “I’m worried that I’ve gone crazy. I didn’t want anyone to find out, but now everyone will know. People at school will avoid me because they think I’m dangerous. My parents treat me like I could snap at any moment. And what if they’re right? What if I do snap again, and next time it’s someone else’s eye? What if I’m so far gone that none of the antipsychotics work? What if I have to live with the evil spirits until I die? What if they kill me?” Her words dissolved into sobs.

So this was the real Luca, the one beneath the cool mask. I hugged her as fiercely as my tiny self could.

“I won’t let them!” I said. “If those hallucinations still haunt you, then I will sleep over every night, even if I have to sneak out. And if you start to say or do something crazy, I’ll slap you out of it.”

“But what if I get so delirious that I don’t listen to you? What if you’re the one who I hurt next?”

“That will never happen.”

“I would never in my right mind stab out my own eye, but that happened.”

“That is different. The reason you couldn’t hurt me even though you hurt yourself is because _we are best friends!”_

She snorted.

“Hey, don’t laugh, I’m being serious. And I always wanted to say that, too.” I muttered.

Despite scoffing at my comment, it seemed to have soothed her. She was sniffling, but she wasn’t crying anymore. She leaned into me.

“So how did you sleep last night?” she asked.

“Not great, actually.”

“Sorry.”

“No no, it wasn’t because of anything you did. I had a rather nasty nightmare. But you know, when I woke up and saw you practically sleeping on top of me, all the bad feelings flew away.”

“Hm, I guess you are right, then. No nightmare whether we’re awake or asleep is a match for the power of our friendship.”

It was my turn to snort, which turned into a giggle. “I’m sorry, you’re right, that does sound really silly.”

“But it is also true. _Best friend.”_

Even after the conversation died down we continued to stay as we were, me hugging her, and her snuggling against me.

“Hey Luca?”

“Hm?”

“When did the hallucinations start?”

“[beat] When I was recovering from when I got hit by a car.”

“Ohmygosh when did that happen?”

“Around two months before you moved here. When my family met yours for the first time, I had just gotten out of my casts.”

“Casts? How many bones did you break?”

“Eight. The doctor said it was a miracle I survived. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about this.”

“Your parents might’ve mentioned it to my parents, but I never heard the whole story.”

“Well it isn’t much of a story. Me and my sister were walking home from Vela Nova Elementary. As we were crossing the street a car blew past a stop light going forty. I managed to push Nico out of the way, but the car hit me head on. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in a hospital bed with broken bones and a serious concussion, hurting all over. Nurse Katherine was actually my nurse back then, too. Anyway, I stayed there two weeks, then recovered at home another six weeks. I missed the end of school, but they made sure to give me plenty of homework.”

“So did the hallucinations start at the hospital?”

“Yeah. At first they weren’t so bad, even friendly. I didn’t tell anyone about them because I didn’t want people to think that I’m crazy. It turns out that when I got hit by the car, I suffered some brain damage, which gave me what the doctor called ‘psychosis.’ But since I didn’t say anything about it, the doctor didn’t find out until I poked out my eye.”

“. . . You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

“I suppose. It’s been pretty lonely, but not anymore. And even so, to me it’s been worth it because Nico wasn’t hurt. She definitely would have died if she got hit by that car, and if that happened, I don’t know how I’d be able to live with myself.”

“A world without Nico would be terribly sad. She’s a ray of sunshine. And she absolutely adores you.”

“Yeah well she’s the adorable one. I like how close we are, but my parents think it’s a problem because instead of Nico making friends her own age, she hangs around with people three years older.”

“I wish I could stay and play with you and Nico today.”

We chatted until Nurse Katherine came in, and then Mom picked me up from the hospital and I went home. That day the doctor found an antipsychotic that Luca didn’t have a bad reaction to, and the next day, brandishing an eyepatch, she came home. Her family threw a welcome home party for her, and my family was invited. I brought ice-cream cake. Thankfully, it turned out the meds worked, and Luca was bothered by those evil spirits no more. We’ve had many sleep overs since. A couple of weeks later, we both started sixth grade at Vela Nova Middle School. Over the school year we made friends with the rest of our crew. We are all the best of friends, but Luca will always hold a special place in my heart for being my first.


	5. The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Time for the Wish Warriors' debut!"

Fi pulled the Supra off the side of the road near Wight Bridge. Since it was twilight, the characteristic ghostly mist already began to shroud the white-colored bridge. I flashed back to last night’s nightmare and shivered.

“Hey, you OK?” Luca asked me.

“Yeah,” I said with a nod.

Kyubey waited for us on the bridge railing beside what I can best describe as a floating pocket of mirages.

_You took your time,_ Kyubey sent to all of us.

“Sorry, something came up,” Luca said.

_For future reference, other magical girls could beat you to the fight if you take too long to muster yourselves. I am helping you out this time because I want to make sure you understand what you are supposed to do. After tonight you will have to hunt Witches on your own._

“How many other magical girls are in Vela Nova?” I asked.

_Just one, currently. She is a veteran, very powerful, and very territorial. You will doubtless meet her sooner than later._

“Can we hurry this up?” Fi said. “This mist is turnin’ me into a frickin’ popsicle.”

_Very well. I am sure you have noticed the distorted space beside me. This is the entrance to a Witch’s labyrinth. All Witches reside in lairs like this. They spread their curses to the outside world through familiars they create or their own limited reach. While they cannot move outside their lair, the entrance to their lair can travel where it wants._

“I’m guessing that normal people can’t see the Witches, their familiars, and their labyrinths,” I said.

_Correct. Otherwise unexplained deaths and human aggression can often be tied to a Witch’s curse, though only magical girls can identify curses for what they are. That is why your task is to go inside the labyrinth and defeat the Witch. Do that and their influence disappears. And be sure to collect their grief seed. It will restore your magic. Any questions?_

“How many witches live in a labyrinth?” Luca asked.

_Just one. They are solitary creatures. If on the rare chance two witches cross paths, they would attack each other until one is eaten up by the other. It would be best to stay out of their way if that ever happens. But keep in mind that the more a witch eats, the stronger it becomes. The same goes for its familiars. If a familiar eats enough people, it could become a witch itself._

“So if we find a witch, we should destroy it right away,” Fantasia said. “But what does spreading curses have to do with eating people?”

_You could say that a Witch survives by drawing people into its labyrinth and eating them, but its purpose is to spread curses._

“Then what is this Witch doing here?” Shanoa asked.

Before Kyubey could answer, I said, “Isn’t it obvious? It’s driving people to suicide.”

“Oh.” Shanoa shifted her balance uncomfortably.

_Dresden is once again correct. Normally when a labyrinth is discovered, it is important to jump in quickly before it disappears to a different location, but this Witch seems to be anchored to this spot, which is why we have had this time to talk. Take care, though. The Witch definitely knows that you are here and is expecting you._

_Oh, and one last thing before you go in. I have extended my telepathic link so that you can communicate with each other telepathically as well. That way you can still coordinate with each other even when you cannot hear one another._

“Does that mean we can read each other’s minds?” Fantasia asked.

_No. The link is only surface level. Basically, it is the same as talking out loud._

“Oh good.”

Shanoa leaned close to Fantasia. “Hey Fantasia, are you saying that there is something you don’t want your friends to know?”

Fantasia was unfazed. “Every girl has her secrets.”

“C’mon, what is it? You can tell me.”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.”

“Tell me tell me tell me!”

“Enough. We have a Witch to hunt.”

“Awww please? I promise I won’t tell.”

“Let’s go,” Luca said, holding out her hand and transforming her silver jeweled ring into its proper form, a soul gem. The rest of us followed suit.

We tapped into our magic, and in a flash of light our clothes transformed. It was everything I imagined. There were enough similarities between our outfits that anyone could tell we were a part of the same band. We wore matching skirts, black and white KISS style face paint, and our primary color was black. Our soul gems, though located in different places on our outfits, were all embedded within our band logo, which was two ‘w’s put together in the shape of a star.

Along with looking like band members, we also had the appearance of a party in a fantasy story, if that party was made up of villains. I was the necromancer, and my instrument was a keytar with a Death scythe motif. Luca was the black knight, and her bass guitar had a body shaped like a kite shield. Fi was the dragon, and her electric guitar looked like a wicked double-sided axe. Shanoa was the demon, or perhaps devil, and she sat at a large drum kit seemingly made of dark flames, dual-wielding drumsticks that pulsed with neon fire. And finally there was Fantasia, the witch – I mean, _sorceress_. Her mic stand looked like a mage’s staff, with the mic itself being some kind of crystal.

“Nice shovel,” Fi said to Luca.

“Shut up, Fi,” Luca said, then sighed dejectedly. “It does look like a shovel.”

“So how does this work, exactly?” Fi asked after we took a moment to admire our magical outfits and instruments.

“Magic, obviously,” I said.

“These are instruments, not weapons.”

“Says the one whose guitar is an axe.”

“And they aren’t even plugged in,” she continued as if I hadn’t said a thing.

_You will figure it out,_ Kyubey sent. _Now go, and good luck._

“You’re not coming with us?” Shanoa asked.

_I cannot, but I will be waiting here and watching you in case you need support. Though I am confident that the five of you can vanquish this singular Witch._

“Alright everyone, let’s bring it in,” I said. We stood in a tentative circle. “This is the Wish Warriors’ first concert! LET’S GOOOOO!” I punched my fist diagonally in the air. The other girls, quick to catch on to my antics, mimicked my fist pump so that we were all touching in the center of the circle, and yelled, “YEAH!”

With that, one by one we leapt through the distorted space and into the Witch’s lair. The “real world” entirely disappeared, replaced by a landscape so foreign that the only way to describe it is that it was a “different artstyle.” Against a blank white paper sky, dark clouds made of colored paper cutouts rained down droplets of transparent confetti almost horizontally, as wind flew straight at us from behind with such ferocity that it threatened to blow us off of our narrow zig-zagging perch. Despite its appearance the rain was still wet, making the walkway even more difficult to balance on. Above and below us were more black, zig-zagging pathways of varying widths that all lead to the same central point.

“CHARGE!” I yelled, pointing forward. I tried to run ahead, but I immediately slipped and landed flat on my face. Luca lifted me back onto my feet.

“Maybe we be a little more careful on our first hunt,” she said.

I chuckled in embarrassed.

We picked our way forward carefully, having only one direction to go, moving close enough together to support each other when one of us lost our balance. Despite our methodical pace, the environment was rushing past us on its own, speeding us toward our destination. We passed through large solitary doors of varying shapes and colors, opening themselves up for us with sinister politeness.

Suddenly the scenery stood still, and we stopped as well. The raindrops hung suspended in the air, and the wind ceased. Before us was a giant column from which all of the zig-zagging pathways originated.

“This must be a giant tree,” I said.

“Anyone see the witch?” Luca asked.

A huge noise like a cross between an elephant’s cry and a jackhammer violently vibrated the entire space around us, causing the rain to fall by the bucketful, the wind to shriek, and the ground beneath us to tremble like a category five earthquake.

With exclamations of surprise the five of us were thrown off of the branch like bowling pins after a strike. I tumbled onto a lower branch, landing flat on my back with the breath knocked out of me.

_Is everyone OK?!_ I sent after the noise and its subsequent mayhem died.

Everyone sent an affirmative, but each one of us was now on a different branch. At least we were all still within sight of each other.

_I managed to stand my ground,_ Luca sent. _Did anyone pinpoint the source of the noise?_

None of us did.

_You’d think with how loud that noise was, finding what made it would be easy,_ Fi sent.

_For now, we should split up and search for the witch,_ Fantasia sent. _If anyone sees something new, be sure to let the rest of us know. Don’t try to tackle anything on your own._

 _Found something!_ Shanoa sent.

_Already?_

_Yeah, there’s some sort of red fruit growing really big really fast. It’s hanging from the branch above me._

I gave a cursory glance, and sure enough what Shanoa described was but one of many. They looked like oblong plums made of colored paper, and they were approaching the size of an adult person. One of them was hanging from the next branch over on my left.

_I’m gonna poke it,_ Shanoa sent.

_Shanoa!_ Fantasia scolded.

_I’m kidding I’m kidding._

But it turned out that Shanoa didn’t need to poke the fruit, because they burst on their own. Nigh simultaneously the fruits exploded with the intensity of bombs, splattering dark red paper pulp everywhere, including on myself.

“Blech!” I spat as I wiped the pulp off my face and body. “It tastes like blood. . .”

A girlish scream pierced the air, almost lost amidst the rainstorm.

_Shanoa, are you OK?!_ Fi sent.

_A body fell from the fruit!_ Shanoa sent, and then screamed again. “Stay away!”

Shanoa was the furthest away from me, so it was hard to see what was happening.

_Dang it, I want to help but none of these branches are within jumping distance!_ Luca sent. _I’m gonna head toward the trunk and find the witch._

Fi cursed as two of the pod people lunged at her. She dodged backward, then leapt forward with an overhead swing of her guitar. The ringing of guitar strings and a puff of fire accompanied the hit, sending the enemies flying away.

_Hey Shanoa, hit the body with your drum sticks!_ Fi said.

I heard the sound of explosive percussion. _Thanks, Fi! You saved me,_ Shanoa sent.

Too focused on what was happening elsewhere, a humanoid body without a face caught me unawares. It came from where the nearby fruit used to be, floating through the air and landing a spinning kick at my head. The kick was so powerful that it knocked me off the branch and into another, which I struck against before landing roughly on a different branch below.

I didn’t have time to get up before the pod person floated down after me. Thankfully, I didn’t feel much pain despite probably being badly hurt, nor did I have a serious concussion. My mind still worked fine. Instinctively, I started improvising a melody on my keytar. _Please work!_

A skeleton dressed in armor rose up from the ground in front of me, meeting the pod person head-on. The skeleton soldier flinched as it took a double-armed attack meant for me, and then retaliated with a swing of its greatsword, cutting the pod person in two. The remains of the pod person sprayed papery blood like a pressurized hose, mixing with the rain.

_Drez,_ Fantasia sent.

_What’s up?_ I sent.

_I don’t know what to do. I can’t find the witch, and I’m about to be surrounded by paper mannequins._

_Sing._

_Come again?_

_Music is our magic. You have a mic, right? If you focus your mind and sing, I’m sure something will happen._

_I’m too anxious. I can’t._

_I’ll accompany you with my keyboard. Just follow along._

I began playing an accompaniment to _Ave Maria_. The music carried strongly despite the environmental noise. About ten seconds later, I heard Fantasia singing _Ave Maria,_ her voice also reverberating strongly. After about 30 seconds, she quieted suddenly.

_Fantasia,_ I reached out telepathically, worried.

 _I’m still alive,_ she sent. _It worked. They shriveled up and died. Thanks. How are you doing?_

_I fell pretty far down. I think I can still get up._

Luca cut in. _Hey, it turns out that we can super jump here. Anyway, I think I found something important, so meet me at the top._

As Luca sent her last word, the violent roar returned, but this time its frequency was so high that I curled up on the ground, eyes clenched shut, my hands covering my ears as it assaulted me with an instant high pressure headache. The vibrations were so bad that the entire labyrinth threatened to crumble away.

I lied motionless after the tremors stopped until the ringing faded from my ears and my head cleared, which took about a minute. An unwelcome sight greeted my opened eyes. Three times the amount of pods as before rapidly grew from the branches, prompted by the scream.

I quickly stood up, forgot that the ground was slippery, and fell back over on my stomach.

“Here,” Fantasia lent me her hand. I took it and she helped me stand up.

“Thanks,” I said.

“What’s with the skeleton?” She glanced at it warily, but it didn’t react.

“I think I summoned it when I played my keyboard. Anyway, we should hurry.”

“Yeah. If possible, let’s not stop to fight. There’s too many of them.”

“Agreed.”

Still holding hands, we jumped high into the air and alighted on another branch. My skeleton soldier didn’t follow. About halfway up the tree, the pods exploded open, and all of the pod people that hatched from them floated toward Fantasia and me in dogged pursuit, us being the furthest down the tree. Thankfully, their slow glide was not enough to catch us before we reached the top.

“Good, everyone’s here,” Luca said.

“So where’s that thing you found?” Fi asked.

“That’s going to have to wait,” Fantasia said. “Those monsters will overwhelm us any moment now.”

“Can we defeat that many of them?” Shanoa asked. “I had enough trouble with just one.”

“We can if we play our instruments together,” I said. “Music is our magic. If we play with intent to destroy them, then we will. And with our powers combined, our magic should be amplified. I think.”

“Play what?” Fi asked. “Is there a song we all know?”

“I don’t know how to play,” Shanoa reminded.

That was when the hordes of pod people caught up to us. They rose into the air, surrounding us on all sides.

“I don’t think it matters, just play!” I said and jammed on my keytar.

The others followed my lead, but although we were playing at the same time, none of us were in sync. It was just frantic noise.

All at once the environment once again froze – the rain, the wind, and the pod people.

“Did we just freeze time?” Fi asked.

“I don’t think that was us,” Luca said.

From below, a huge dark shadow I didn’t notice before detached itself from the trunk of the tree and rushed up into the sky on huge papery wings. It stretched out two pairs of butterfly wings, or rather, the creature _was_ two sets of wings that were covered in eyeballs and connected in the center by a toothy maw. All of its eyes leered down at us with bloodshot intensity. The monster rotated 90 degrees, opened its mouth and roared, once again causing the entire labyrinth to tremble and the environment to move in fast motion. However, the pod people stayed in place, blocking us from escaping our perch.

“Play, everyone! Now!” I cried.

We resumed our desperate cacophony, but there were no flames, no skeleton warriors, no signs of magic of any kind.

The monster’s mouth gaped open as it slowly drew closer, like the evil grin of a moon ready to crash into the earth.

“Why isn’t it working?!” I yelled in frustration and fear. _This is it. Finished on our first mission because our eagerness blinded us from common sense. Why didn’t we take time to figure out our magic and abilities? We’re all fools._

“Drez,” Shanoa said, crying.

_Oh crap did I just think that out loud?_

 _You did telepathically, yeah,_ Luca sent.

I gave up playing my keyboard and hugged Shanoa. _I’m sorry everyone,_ I sent, unable to speak the words.

As I gazed into the darkness of the insectoid horror’s maw, I couldn’t help but feel that somehow this situation was entirely my fault.

END

“ULTIMAAAAAA BURST!!”

Shouted words cut through my supposed final thoughts. With a deep bass buzz the monster above warped to the right, like its shape was being sucked into a vacuum. Then at top speed it collided into the boundary of the labyrinth with a sound like shattered glass.

I blinked twice in disbelief. A masked hero clad in silver and a long yellow scarf floated above us in the air where the monster used to be. The pod people all at once converged on this person, but the hero was undaunted. The hero raised a hand in the air and proclaimed, “ULTIMAAAAAA CYCLONE!”

As she called out this next move, a black ball formed in her hand. When it reached a diameter of about three and a half feet it flared to life, dark energy swirling around the center. Every last pod person was caught in the vortex, swirling around the hero like a tornado, getting faster and faster as they were pulled in, until they disappeared into the center of the black hole.

The easy prey forgotten, the butterfly monster wheeled on the new challenger. All we could do was quietly watch the battle. The monster flapped its wings, blowing raindrops toward the hero that transformed into needles. The hero pitched their black hole like a baseball toward the monster.

“Take this!”

The needles swerved into the ball’s orbit, which hit the monster smack in the middle of one of its wings. The whirlwind of needles tore apart the paper wing like a chainsaw, but apparently the black hole was not strong enough to pull the giant butterfly in. It shrieked, and the hero charged.

“BURST!”

With a mighty kick the monster was ripped away from hero at a such a high velocity that the very sound of its scream distorted to match the deep bass that accompanied the blow. Once again it struck against the labyrinth wall, but this time the hero followed its trajectory, proclaiming, “You’re finished! ULTIMAAAAAA CRUNCH!”

The hero’s double punch tackle caused the monster to fold in on itself until it was a crumpled ball of discarded paper. With the battle decided, the labyrinth faded away in waves, as if it was a mirage the entire time. We were all back on Wight Bridge and collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. Shanoa and I were still holding each other, but she had stopped crying.

Before us stood our savior the masked hero, her back turned to us. She rounded on Kyubey, who had remained on the bridge railing.

“You said you would explain, so explain. Why are they here in _my_ city?” she said.

“I know what I promised you, but no matter how strong you are, you alone cannot take on all of the witches gathering in this city,” Kyubey said. “So I recruited some more magical girls so that you can focus on the bigger prey.”

She growled in frustration.

“Um, thanks for saving us,” I said.

Now she rounded on us. “And y’all, what was that pathetic display? There are five of you against one witch, and yet, if I had arrived a few seconds later, it would have eaten you. And that one was just a small fry!”

“That _thing_ was the witch?” Shanoa asked.

Another frustrated growl.

I was of the same mind as Shanoa. I expected something more Halloween, not some horror from _The Twilight Zone_.

“So that would mean the pod people were its familiars, right?” I said.

“Look, if you can’t fight for yourselves, then you aren’t fit to be magical girls. If I have to save you one more time, I’ll drive you out of my city.”

Fi stood up. “This is our city too. And I don’t recall needing your permission to live here.” She stepped up nose to nose with the hero, or she would if the hero wasn’t a head shorter than her.

The hero didn’t back down. She removed her mask to show her seriousness, revealing light blond hair and icy green eyes. I was taken aback by how young she was. She had to be a middle schooler, at the most Shanoa’s age.

“Anyone who encroaches on my work in my city needs my approval, especially noobs like yourselves.” She paused as she gave everyone a once over. “What are y’all supposed to be, anyway? A cult?”

Luca stands up next to Fi and puts her hand on Fi’s shoulder. “We’re the Wish Warriors, a heavy metal band.”

“I guess that does explain your weapons. I’m Ultima, Vela Nova’s very own super hero.” She struck a heroic pose, her incredibly large yellow scarf billowing behind her despite there being no gust of wind.

“Super hero, for real?” Fi said. “If that were true, you would be all over the news.”

“I work in the shadows, out of the eye of the public.”

“Whatever.”

“It’s true! I even fight crime and stuff!” Exasperated, she turned back to Kyubey, pointing a finger at him. “I’ll let it slide this time, Kyubey, but no more. If you recruit any more magical girls in Vela Nova, I’ll drive you out, too. Got it?”

_Are you truly confident that you can win on your own?_ Kyubey asked.

“It is my destiny to win.”

_Wow, she sounds like me back in middle school,_ I thought privately.

 _Very well,_ Kyubey sent. _I think you are being unreasonable, but I will go along with your demands. But do not blame me when you find yourself in over your head._

At this point, my friends and I were back on our feet and ready to leave. Ultima too was done with the conversation. She put her helmet back on.

I extended my hand toward her. “I look forward to working with you. I hope we can get along.”

Instead of shaking my hand she placed a small, round, black and pointy object in my palm.

“Y’all need this grief seed way more than I do. I suggest you devote all of your time to practicing your magic until you can confidently take down a witch. Skip school, clubs, sports practice, everything. It’ll be difficult to share grief seeds amongst the five of you, but luckily for you Vela Nova is a conflux for witches at the moment. You shouldn’t have a shortage of grief seeds as long as you become quick at hunting witches.”

Fantasia broke in, detached from the conversation. “Am I the only one seeing this?” she said.

I followed her gaze upward to the moon, or, rather, what hung in front of it – an entire gothic castle, floating in the sky. It had a large round stained glass window above the main entrance that glowed. The longer I stared at it, the more strongly I felt the discomfort of it staring back.

“Ah yes, I was wondering when you would notice,” Ultima said.

“How long has _that_ been there?” Fi asked.

“It has appeared every night for the past week.”

“What is it?” I asked.

Ultima inhaled and said loudly, “Wish Warriors, harken to me and harken well, because this is imperative to your survival as magical girls.” She pointed straight up. “That is a witches’ labyrinth. _Plural_ witches. These witches are so powerful that they have manifested in the real world, and they are working together to accomplish the utter destruction of Vela Nova. I call them “The Four Witches of the Apocalypse.” And they are _my_ quarry.”

We turned to Kyubey for confirmation.

_Everything Ultima said is true. These witches are both incredibly abnormal and incredibly powerful. For your survival, you must avoid them at all costs._

Despite the warnings from both Ultima and Kyubey, I felt deep down that this battle with the Four Witches was _our_ quest – the main quest of the Wish Warriors.


	6. Character Design Sketches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is what I imagined for the girls' magical girl outfits. Please note that I am not an artist, but I hope this helps you picture them. 
> 
> As a little fun fact, the height order from tallest to shortest is Fi, Fantasia, Luca, Shanoa, Ultima, and Dresden.
> 
> Which design is your favorite? Let me know in the comments.


	7. The Heavy Music Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think it's time we blow this scene. Get everybody and the stuff together."

By the time we were all able to meet up at Fantasia’s house for the Wish Warriors’ first practice, it was 7:00pm.

“I’m surprised your parents are OK with this,” I said.

“Oh they’re much more agreeable now,” Fantasia said. She clapped her hands together. “So, since this is the first time all of you have been inside my house, how about I give you a quick tour?”

We all agreed, unable to hide our obvious gawking. Her house was modern with a sleek design, sharp geometry, and cold colors. Various framed canvases decorated the walls, from painted portraits to landscapes to more modern pieces that matched the aesthetic of the house. Everything from the couches to the countertops, from the wood banisters to the carpets and slate floors, were all clearly made from the finest of materials and craftsmanship.

“I am really out of my element here,” Luca said.

“It’s like we’re in an art museum,” Shanoa said.

“We have more functional rooms, too,” Fantasia said. She showed us to a large indoor pool. “This is where I exercise in the morning.”

“Dang, girl. I didn’t know you worked out,” Fi said.

She blushed slightly. “It’s nothing intensive. But I am on a strict exercise routine and diet because of my health condition.”

“It’s no wonder you’re so. . .” I started to say before realizing that I was about to say something embarrassing, which cut off my train of thought.

“So what?” Fantasia asked.

_Filled-in? Mature? Defined? I can’t say those things! Quick, think up something else!_

“Fit.”

Shanoa, Luca, and Fieros giggled.

_Fit? Fit?? That’s what you came up with???_

“How about we head to the music room now?” Fantasia said.

As I stood there with my face burning and let them walk pass me, Fi said in a low tone, “Nice one, Drez!” and gave a thumbs up.

“Shut up, Fieros!” I said in the same low tone.

Luca patted my back and said, “Well, you could have done worse.” Then to Fieros, “Hey Fi, you’re looking fit today.”

“Thanks! I work out in the morning. Eat healthy. Y’know, fit people stuff. But have you seen Fantasia? She’s _really_ fit.”

“They really are two of a kind, aren’t they?” I muttered to myself.

Shanoa grabbed my arm, pulling me along with her, and leaned in and whispered, “You should have said _delicious_. _”_

“No!” I protested loudly. Fi and Luca both glanced back at me and snickered some more. Fantasia ignored all of this, though I couldn’t tell whether it was out of graciousness or annoyance.

The music room was wondrously large in order to house a collection of instruments so diverse – and expensive – that it would put most music shops to shame. A grand piano, another piano set up like an organ, a full-sized harp, violins, cellos, an upright bass, acoustic guitars, flutes, clarinets, oboes, saxophones, French horns, and a set of bagpipes all propped up or resting on stands so that they can easily be picked up and played.

“Wow,” I couldn’t help but say.

“How many instruments do you play?” Shanoa asked, clearly resisting the urge to touch them.

“All of these except the saxophone,” Fantasia said. “So including my voice, I play thirteen musical instruments. Though most of these are actually my mother’s.”

“How do you have time to practice all of these?” Fi asked.

“What I practice depends on the role I’m filling in whatever musical ensemble that my parents put me in. And I spend most of the day practicing music, actually.”

“What about school?” Luca asked.

“I’m on an accelerated learning course for school. It’s two hours every day, following the morning workout and breakfast.”

We knew that Fantasia was a musical genius, but seeing proof of it was still no less astounding.

“Anyway, we have permission to use this room as much as we want. It is soundproof, so we don’t have to worry about our volume level.”

“First thing’s first,” I said, grabbing everyone’s attention. “We need to figure out a schedule. There’s no way we’re gonna make any progress as a band when we can’t get together until really late like this. My mom expects me home at 8:30pm. That only gives us an hour.”

“You make a good point, but I don’t see how we can do it any other way,” Luca said. “I have football after school, you have cross country—”

“I walk Bear home from elementary school right after I get home,” Shanoa said.

“I’ve got nothing,” Fieros said. “Heck, I left class early today and no one even cared.”

We turned to Fantasia expectantly.

“I shouldn’t have any problems with adjusting my schedule to fit with everyone else’s,” she said.

“Really? Your parents must be really nice now,” I said.

“Oh yes, they are drastically better than before. It’s amazing what a difference listening can make.”

“I’m glad that your relationship with them has improved so much already.”

“Me too.”

“So, what next?” Luca prompted. “It sounds like we’re altogether too busy to make time for this, like I said.”

“Well, Ultima said to skip everything, even school,” I said.

“Yeah, but that chick is also a piece of work,” Fi said. “Not that I care if we play hooky, cuz I’ve got no consequences. My wish is the best.”

“Are you really OK with skipping school though?” Fantasia asked. “Wouldn’t you have done so today if that was the case?”

“My parents would kill me for skipping football, let alone school,” Luca said.

“Same,” Shanoa said.

“Yeah you’re right,” I said. “There’s no way we could miss school without our parents knowing about it. But if we don’t figure this out, we could die on our next hunt. I think that’s a bit more important than school.”

“Well then, what do you suggest?” Luca said. “You’re our ‘big ideas’ girl.”

I shrugged. “I need time to think about it.”

“We could sneak out late at night to practice,” Shanoa said.

“And lose sleep? No way!” Fi said. “Besides, even Fantasia’s ‘new and improved’ parents wouldn’t let us come over and practice late at night.”

“Actually—” Fantasia began, but switched gears. “How about we give it more consideration and come back to this topic tomorrow?”

Everyone agreed.

“Then the next thing to figure out is what we want to do during practice,” Luca said.

“Should we practice on our magical girl instruments?” Fi asked. “If not, I can bring my SG from home. Amp and pedalboard, too.”

“Moose left a drum kit in Dad’s garage when he left for college,” Shanoa said. “But I don’t know how I’d get it here.”

“It makes the most sense to use our magical girl instruments,” Fantasia said. “Since those are the ones we will be performing with, we should get used to how it feels to play them.”

“Alright, then what do we want to actually do for practice?” Luca reiterated.

There was a brief pause in the conversation as we all contemplated the question.

“So basically we want to learn music so that we can cast magic or whatever, right?” Shanoa asked.

“Right,” I said. “And playing together in sync as a band is key. Probably.”

“Then like any band we need a setlist, yeah?” Fi said.

“I could write us songs,” Fantasia said excitedly.

“How long would that take?” I asked.

“Not long. I could do it during my personal music practice.”

“Hold up, everyone,” Luca said. “I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Shouldn’t we figure out what our magics are first? For all we know, the type of music we play could have an effect on what our magic does.”

“Maybe we could do that for tomorrow’s practice,” I suggested. “Fi can drive us to someplace where no one would notice us and we can experiment with our magics.”

“I’ll get started on writing our first song tomorrow, too,” Fantasia said.

With everyone in agreement, we spent the remainder of our time together chatting and having Fantasia demo some of her instruments.

Once again, it wasn’t until 7:00pm that we could all meet up. As we stood outside Fantasia’s house, Castle Apocalypse hung in the cloudless sky in full view, as if to mock our admittedly poor efforts thus far to figure out this magical girl stuff. Even after a few days to acclimate to it, its presence continued to seriously unnerve me. As a form of rebellion against its creepy aura, I silently promised it, _Just you wait. Tonight we figure out our magics, and then the Wish Warriors’ war against your so-called apocalypse begins._

“I realized a problem with our plans for tonight’s practice,” Fi said.

“What?” Luca asked.

“Going someplace both secluded and spacious enough to practice magic will take at least an hour, more if we want to head up into the mountains.”

“But Vela Nova is smack in the middle of forest,” I said.

“Yeah. It takes thirty minutes to get out of Vela Nova, then another thirty minutes to head deep into the woods, no matter what direction we go. And even if we were OK with just the outskirts, by the time we got there, we’d have to drive back.”

“Huh. I never realized it took so much time to escape from the city. Then what do y’all want to do?”

“First, can we come inside?” Shanoa asked. “It’s chilly out here.”

“Yes, let’s continue this discussion over some hot cocoa,” Fantasia said.

_Tomorrow. Tomorrow our war against your so-called apocalypse begins in earnest._ I shook my fist at the castle for emphasis.

“What are you doing?” Luca asked.

“Nothing of the consequence,” I said, giving the castle one last death metal glare as a parting shot.

We went inside Fantasia’s house and sat at the dining room table where her maid, Ms. Maria, served us high grade hot cocoa in tall mugs.

“So,” I began.

“Hold that thought,” Fantasia said, and she ran off.

We exchanged raised eyebrows between our sips of cocoa at Fantasia’s uncharacteristic display of speed. We didn’t have to wait long to find out the reason for her enthusiasm, as she came back less than a minute later. She handed out stacks of sheet music to each one of us and placed one stack down in the middle of the table. They were titled “Snowfall Nocturne” by the Wish Warriors.

After giving us a moment to peruse them, she said, “Well, what do you think?”

I stared at the incredibly complicated notation before me. “It’s. . . impressive. You came up with all of this in a day?”

“Yeah! And I have many more songs waiting to be written.”

“Fantasia, this is too challenging for our first song,” Fi said. “Also, I can’t read sheet music. Can you write this in tab?”

“If you can’t read it, how do you know it’s too challenging?” Luca said. “Not that I disagree. . .”

Fi grabbed Shanoa’s sheet music and showed it to me and Luca.

“Oh,” Luca said.

“I don’t need to know how to read it to know that it’s way too much to handle,” Fi said.

Fantasia’s smile slowly went cold as this exchange went on. “What’s wrong? I made us a heavy metal song. . .”

I read the sheet music for Fantasia’s part, which included the lyrics. It was technically impressive and fitting for a classically trained singer of her caliber. I compared her sheets with my own, then with Shanoa’s, and I nodded in understanding.

“Fantasia, I think you wrote everyone’s parts as though _you_ were playing them,” I said.

She grabbed the papers back and quickly read through them with narrowed eyes. She sighed. “You’re right. I did compose each part by playing the instrument myself, after all. Sorry everyone. I got so excited that I forgot to mind everyone’s individual skill levels.” She hung her head, all the energy sucked out of her by her own supposed failure.

I (sitting next to her) reached over and hugged her. “Hey, we’re not saying we should scrap the song. It’s really beautiful. I especially love the lyrics.”

“Yo, I wanna see the lyrics,” Fi said. Fantasia handed them over. “Dang, these are good.”

“Lemme see,” Shanoa said, who was trying to read over Fi’s shoulder. Fi gave them to Shanoa.

“Oooh they’re so pretty. And depressing.” Shanoa said. She passed them to Luca, who agreed with us.

“Think we should save it for later?” Luca said. “Make it something we build up to?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It would be a shame to simplify it and lose some of its beauty. Just how about next time you write a song that we can all play from the get go?”

“OK,” Fantasia said. “But I don’t know the extent of what you all can play.”

“Then how about for today’s practice we demo for you, like how you demo’d for us yesterday?” Luca said.

“I like the sound of that,” Fi agreed.

“What about me?” Shanoa asked.

“We can help you get started,” Fi said. “I mean, I don’t play drums myself, but I know enough about it to help out with the basics. I think.”

With that decided and our hot cocoas finished, we started to get up when I remembered what I was about to say when this conversation started.

“Oh yeah, hold up everyone,” I said. “I think I figured out our scheduling problem.”

None of us sat back down, opting instead to lean on our chairs, but I had their attention.

“What if we became an official school club?” I put air quotes around the word ‘official.’ “Well, that’s what we would tell our parents, anyway. The point is we wouldn’t get in trouble for spending after school time doing band practice. What parent would discourage their child from learning a musical instrument?”

Luca raised her hand. “Mine would, if it interferes with football,” she said.

I growled out of both disappointment and exasperation. “This is the only solution I could come up with, without us becoming full-on truants. Do you have a solution, then?”

She shook her head. “I’ll see what I can do about coming to band practice, but I can’t promise anything.”

I sighed. “I guess there’s nothing we can do about that. Anyone else have problems or suggestions?”

“Works for me,” Shanoa said.

“I really don’t care,” Fi said.

Fantasia shook her head, then said, “Shall we make this our plan until we come up with something better?”

“I guess,” Luca said.

The rest of us assented.

With that out of the way, we moved to the music room for the demo. Most of the time was spent helping Shanoa get started on the drums, using Youtube videos as reference. Not the most reliable method, I know, but it seemed to work well enough. We resolved to practice our magic tomorrow, since it was Friday.

After dropping off our bags at Fantasia’s and grabbing a bite to eat at Andy’s, we made our way out of Vela Nova and into the woods. It was already dark by the time Fi pulled into the (closed) parking lot situated at the start of set of hiking trails known as “The Nightmare Frontier,” so called because of its alien (and still yet to be explained) rock formations that cannot be found anywhere else in the Pacific Northwest and probably the entire continental US. It was a great match for Vela Nova’s similarly one-of-a-kind “gothic revival” architectural aesthetic, which itself was a marvel. The large stretches of open area between points of the trails, including a lake beach front, were perfectly suitable for our magical purposes.

With no moonlight to speak of, the nearby mountain range was shrouded in the blackest shadow and appeared to loom over us menacingly. We came prepared for the dark, however. Shanoa borrowed a large lamp from Boss’s garage, which Fi was put in charge of carrying. A mile and a half hike through about a foot of snow awaited us in order to reach the nearest of those open areas – if we were normal people. We activated our soul gems and transformed.

“Alright, time to see what we can do!” Fi said with a grin, which with her corpse paint made her look like she was about to bite someone’s head off. At the moment, that person was Luca. “Wanna race?”

“You wanna lose?” Luca replied.

“Ooh ooh I wanna join!” Shanoa said.

“Hey,” I cut in. “How about this time we all race?” I turned to Fantasia. “You up to it?”

Fantasia thought for a moment, then nodded. “I think I can use my magic to stabilize my condition. This should be a good way to test my limits.”

I switched to telepathy to make this conversation private. _OK, but if you start to feel faint, call out to me telepathically and I’ll come back for you._

_Ha, you’re making the mistake of thinking that you’ll be in front of me._

Her comeback made me grin.

“Alright!” Fi said. “On my m—”

“Three-two-one GO!” Shanoa said and blasted off with a huge jump like the ones we did in the Witch’s labyrinth.

“Hey!”

We all took off after her, clearing the trees in hundred meter bounds. Despite the below freezing temperature, the air did not sting, and neither did the branches of the pine trees as they scratched at my body.

“YEEEAAAAHHHHH!” I shouted.

I admit in my exhilaration I forgot about the race until I made it to the clearing where Fi and Shanoa were arguing most eloquently over the results by shouting over each other.

“You cheated!”

“I got here first!”

“It doesn’t count!”

“You’re just mad cuz I beat you for once!”

“Don’t be such a sore loser!”

“No you’re the sore loser!”

“Shhh!” Fantasia shushed, and miraculously both Fi and Shanoa heard her and stopped.

“Fantasia, who would you say won the race?” Luca prompted. Fantasia was our go-to judge for moments like this, a role that we had never discussed but also never disputed.

“Hmmm, well, what we do know for certain is that the loser is Dresden.”

“Heyyy what does that have to do with who won?” I asked, while also just realizing that I had come in last place.

She ignored me. “Therefore, the tormentor, I mean, _winner_ , shall be. . . Shanoa!”

“Yes!” Shanoa said. She and Fantasia exchanged conspiratorial glances and giggles.

“Milady has spoken!” I recited theatrically the line I said every time this type of situation came up, but inside I was thinking, _Oh no._ “So what are you going to have me do?”

“You’ll find out once we get back,” Shanoa said with a mischievous smile.

_And how are you feeling?_ I sent to Fantasia.

_I feel fine, actually. Thank you for asking._ Fantasia gave her own smile, which was much more wholesome than Shanoa’s. I smiled back.

At last it was time. Fieros placed down the lamp in the middle of the clearing, and we summoned our instruments.

“Alright,” I said, “three, two, one, let’s jam.”

And we did, each of us performing our own melodies or beats as we focused on casting our magic. However, like our attempt during our first witch fight, nothing magical happened, unless you count our instruments making noise despite not being plugged in.

_OK OK everyone stop for a moment,_ I sent so that my message could cut through the noise. When everyone quieted down, I continued out loud, “I think that since our magics are sound based, we could be interfering with each other’s magic casting.”

“So our magic only works if we play in sync, I’m guessing?” Luca said.

I nodded. “That’s my hypothesis.”

“Then what do you want to do, since we can’t play any songs together yet?” Fantasia asked.

“I’m thinking we should go one at a time, as troublesome as that sounds.”

“How about you start first, then, since this magic is your fault,” Luca said.

_My fault._ Guilt stung me as my mind flashed back to the disaster of a witch fight and the total responsibility I felt toward its outcome.

I must have made a sour face, because Luca immediately followed up with, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No no, you’re right. My wish made our magic like this, and if it wasn’t for Ultima, my wish would have been our downfall.” _Well, that and our belief that we’d pick up magic casting immediately like we were the main cast of a anime,_ I thought in addendum.

With nothing left to say, I stepped forward and considered how I would go about discerning my magical abilities. _Well, I am a necromancer._ With that in mind, I played a little tune, and sure enough a skeleton rose up from the ground, equipped with a sword, shield, and some armor. I tried this a few more times, first experimenting with genre and voice, which had no noticeable effect, then experimenting with what kind of skeletons I could summon, picturing different weapons and sizes. Every skeleton I imagined appeared as I played without previous summons disappearing, though they all seemed to be on standby, lurching back and forth slightly but otherwise not doing anything.

I pointed at a boulder not too far away. “Attack!” I said.

No response.

_In that case. . ._

With that order in mind, I played my keytar. The skeleton soldiers came to life and rushed the boulder, striking it with weapons. I watched as they continued to do this without pause, though only the seven foot skeleton with a warhammer inflicted any visible damage.

After more experimentation, I learned that I could give orders both collectively or to each skeleton individually depending on what I thought about while I played my keytar, and that the skeletons would continue to carry out the order until I gave them a different order, which could be general or very specific. On to the next test.

“Hey, one of you attack one of my skeletons,” I said to my bandmates, who had been watching quietly. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it doesn’t strike back. I wanna see how durable they are.”

“I’ll do it,” Fi said. “Should I use magic or just hit it?”

“Doesn’t matter. Just try to make your attack weak.”

“Got it.”

Fi approached the closest skeleton and whipped out a basic chord progression. As if her axe was being used as an actual axe, slashes of flames assaulted the skeleton, and it blasted apart with practically no resistance.

_Not promising. However. . ._

I played the keytar, focusing my magic on the defeated skeleton. Sure enough, it reformed as if its bones and armor and weapon were magnetized to each other. As it did so, I noticed a link between the skeleton and me. Continuing to play, I used that link to push more magic into the skeleton, and I felt it grow stronger. I cast my mind toward my other pawns, and each one had the same kind of link.

“Hey Fi, try attacking that same skeleton again with the same move.”

She replayed that chord progression, and more flames slashed at the skeleton. But this time the skeleton, though clearly burnt, stayed assembled. I kept my concentration on that skeleton while it happened. I felt the magic strength within it diminish from the attack. _So basically I can give them as many hit points as I want, but it costs more magic. . . Wait, how much magic have I been using?!_ In a brief moment of panic, I removed my crown and checked my soul gem. It was slightly more teal than turquoise, but it still glittered brightly. I exhaled in relief, then keyed one more command to all of the skeletons.

_Disperse!_

Simultaneously, all traces of my undead legion vanished, burned to ash by black flames and scattered by a ghostly breeze.

“Alright, that’s good for now.”

I stood down and let the next of us to have their turn.

“Yo Luca,” Fi said.

“Huh?” Luca said.

“You, me, guitar battle.”

“You’re on!”

“Nooooo, don’t hurt each other!” Shanoa said, rushing between them and holding her arms out as if that would stop them.

Luca patted Shanoa’s head as she passed her by to put some distance between herself and Fi. “Don’t worry, it’s just a friendly sparring match.”

“Yeah Shanoa, it’s not like we’re trying to kill each other,” Fi said. “Just break some bones.”

When Shanoa looked even more distressed, Fi added, “I’m kidding! Chill, girl.”

“Come on, Shanoa. We should stand back.” I said, grabbing her hand and leading her away from the soon-to-be battlefield.

“But—” she protested.

“It’s OK. You know they have a competitive streak. This is no different.”

“But they don’t know how strong their magic is. What if they accidently seriously hurt each other?”

“Supposing that does happen, every party needs a healer, right? We’ll just have to figure out which one of us that is.”

Fantasia stared at us with a lonely expression, so I extended my other hand toward her. She took it, and the three of us sat down on a rock, brushing off the snow the best we could.

Meanwhile, the match already started.

Fi opened with a riff of power chords that would make any 80s hair metal band proud. She emanated an aura of flames that flared in waves in time with the music. Despite having no amp or effects pedals, the strings of her guitar rang with a concert volume overdrive.

True to guitar battle etiquette, Fi backed off as Luca pulled off a fat bass line that matched the hair metal style Fi started. In contrast to her opponent, however, Luca’s performance produced no visible effect.

Back to Fi, who picked up her next turn by tearing into a thrash metal tapping solo with some bends thrown in for extra spice. From her aura a rush of flames surged at Luca like a wildfire traveling by the wind.

Luca gritted her teeth as the flames reached her, but she stood her ground and cut in with a solo of her own, using her funky slap technique to combat Fi’s aggressive shred. The heat wave barrage parted around Luca, and an unseen force took a few swings at Fi. She grunted as it struck her back several steps. Then, taking a wide stance, and still on the offensive, she turned the distortion up to eleven and threw down an ultra-heavy breakdown. With every dramatic headbang of hers, a pillar of flame erupted near Luca.

Shanoa gripped my hand tighter. But Luca wasn’t finished. She hadn’t stopped playing since her last turn, instead trading silence for background noise, as is traditional for a bassist. But now, despite being beset by Fi’s eruption, she over-powered Fi’s playing with a heavier, thicker distortion, disrupting Fi’s assault and retaliating with her own. The ground directly underneath Fi quaked violently and knocked the guitarist flat on her butt. Her strings gave an abrupt ring at the impact, and the dualists took that as a sign to end the battle.

Luca walked over and extended a hand to Fi, who took it and stood up.

“Your magic is really hot, and I mean that both ways,” Luca said.

Fi grinned and replied, “Yours may not be flashy, but you walked out of that with no damage except looking a bit singed. Not bad for a shovel player.”

“It’s not a shovel! It’s a _shield._ Which makes sense, since my magic seems to be mostly defensive.”

“And mine has to be the opposite – mostly offensive. Anyway, I think I understand how I should practice magic now.”

“Same. Who wants to go next?”

They passed the baton to a relieved Shanoa, who stepped into the field. She stretched her hand to the sky and her drumsticks appeared in her grasp. Then she sat down, which would have looked silly if a stool and an entire drum kit hadn’t materialized in place. She started into the most basic of beats, and at first it looked like nothing would happen.

“Maybe her skill level in drumming is too low to cast magic?” I fretted when suddenly a rock ten feet away from where I sat exploded into pebbles, making all of us jump and me yelp. I scooted closer and clung to Fantasia as Shanoa blasted the rocky terrain around us as if there was a rampaging sasquatch.

When she stopped and saw me practically squeezing Fantasia to death, she said, “Guess I’ll have to be more careful. Heheheh.” She stuck her tongue out and winked in a classic ditz pose.

By this point it was getting late, so Shanoa decided she was done and sat back down next to me. When Fantasia made no move to get up, Shanoa said, “Fantasia, it’s your turn now.”

“Oh. Right.” Fantasia replied, sounding disappointed. I let go of her so that she could stand up, and she took the stage. After testing her mage’s staff mic with a couple of light taps, she sang one of the songs she had performed with a children’s choir as the soloist. Unlike the rest of us noodling around, hers was a like a real performance, and I was enraptured as always by her angelic voice, which reminded me of a younger and more classical Sharon den Adel. She sang three songs – one classical, one jazz, and one rock n roll. When she finished, I snapped out of my daze and looked around for any signs of her magic. One boulder had turned to steel, and another wiggled like jello.

Fantasia walked up to a third rock and poked it, and the rock dissipated into fine powder. Shanoa clapped.

“So which genre did what?” I asked.

“Actually, I don’t think genre had anything to do with it,” Fantasia said. “My magic changed form according to my focus more than what style of singing I used. My singing seems to be more like a conduit rather than a catalyst, though I’ll need to practice more to be certain.”

“With that being the case,” I mused aloud, “ _what_ we play matters less than _how_ we play, and _how_ we play matters less than what we want our magic to do, though it does seem that each of us has a specific type of magic. That sound about right to y’all?”

Everyone agreed.

“I’ll keep that in mind when I write our band’s songs,” Fantasia said. “Shall we be off, then?”

At 10:00pm the six of us were in our pajamas sitting in Fantasia’s room – I in my pullover hoodie that was large enough to make it look like I wasn’t wearing pajama shorts (I was), Shanoa in a long sleeve shirt sporting a cute cat face and sweats decorated with cartoon tiny fruits, Fi in a loose tank top and panties (and no shame), Luca in a workout shirt and gym shorts, and Fantasia in a striped night gown. We had finished taking turns showering, chatting about this and that while waiting, and to my delight, Fantasia let me dry and brush her cumulonimbus hair. Her room was a real rich girl’s room – large enough for all six of us to sleep there spaciously, even with her queen-sized bed and—

“Ohmygosh you have so many plushies!” Shanoa said as she glomped a person-sized polar bear stuffed animal.

“Your room is super cute,” Luca said.

“Thanks,” Fantasia said, blushing slightly. “I was afraid you would laugh at how childish it is.”

“Your bed is so soft,” I said as I lied back on it.

“You can sleep with me if you want.”

“Huh? Sleep with you?” My face heated up so badly that I was sure the others could see the steam coming off of it. _Nononono she didn’t mean it like that!_

Shanoa poked my cheek. “Whacha thinking about, Drez?”

“Nothing!”

“Y’know Drez, Fantasia, if you want the sleepover to be just the two of you, we can leave,” Fi said.

“Shut up, Fieros!”

By this point Fantasia realized the implications of our conversation and her face reddened to match mine. She hid herself behind a large white tiger stuffed animal that she hugged close.

“I wonder who would be the top and who would be the bottom,” Shanoa said.

“Knock it off, you knuckleheads. You’re taking this too far,” Luca said.

At the same time as Luca’s admonishment I yelled, “I said shut up!” and threw the pillow I was resting on at Shanoa as hard as I could.

“Ohohoho it’s ON!” Shanoa said, and with both hands she chucked the polar bear at me.

“No, Bach!” Fantasia cried after her stuffed animal.

And thus the fight began! Fantasia wouldn’t let us use her plushies, but she had enough pillows to go around. We went _hard,_ but the pillows were so soft that they made no impact.

After five minutes we calmed down and moved on with our “official” activity, which we decided on beforehand. Each of us brought our favorite party game, whether that be a board game, a card game, a video game, or something more traditional, and we’d vote on which one to play.

“Before we get started,” Shanoa said, “Dresden, you didn’t think I’d forget, did you?”

I exhaled. “Alright Shanoa, what is my punishment?”

“Hehehe welllllll while we play games, you have to sit in Fi’s lap.”

Fi and I both protest at the same instant, but Shanoa wasn’t having any of it. I looked to Luca for help, but she was holding a hand over her mouth in an unsuccessful attempt at holding back a laugh, her shoulders shaking.

“This is totally because I argued with you over who won, isn’t it?” Fi asked deadpanned.

Shanoa smiled a Cheshire cat smile.

I sighed. “Guess I’m doing this.”

I walked the few steps over to Fi.

“Wait,” Fi said. She adjusted her sitting position to something more comfortable. “Alright, ready.”

I slowly sat myself down onto her lap. With the height difference and _other differences_ in body size, I felt like her kid sister.

“Sorry,” I said.

“It’s not your fault,” Fi said with a pointed glare at Shanoa. She giggled.

Because of our _situation_ , Fi and I teamed up on some of the games. My awkwardness over the situation melted away quickly because of how warm and comfy Fi was. I couldn’t help but lean back into her, and since she had to reach around me to play the games, Fi’s natural resting position for her arms was like a hug. This became normal enough for us that even after one of us left to use the washroom, we’d go back to doing it without any sort of acknowledgement.

After a few hours, when we were getting too tired to keep going, Shanoa said, “You know, you didn’t have to sit like that the entire time.”

“What.” Fi said.

“I never said how long you had to do it for.”

“Oh.” I said, back to feeling embarrassed.

“Whatever,” Fi said. “The joke’s on you cuz Drez and I actually had a lot of fun together. Right, Drez?”

“Yeah!” I said, a bit too enthusiastically, bolstered by Fi’s unexpected response. 

Fantasia made an unreadable expression, then said, “I’ll have my parents bring us blankets for your ‘beds.’” She peeked her head out the door and yelled, “Mother, Father, come here.”

Her parents appeared at her doorstep in night clothes and bleary-eyed.

“Melody, what is the meaning of this?” her father said with steel in his voice. “You know how I feel about your friends. And it’s way past your bedtime. Send them home at once.”

“No, my friends are staying here for the night. Accept this without any further conflict, both of you.”

“Yes, Melody,” both her parents said immediately, the hostility in their eyes fading into a blank stare.

“Father, bring us five glasses of water. Mother, bring us four heavy blankets and four lighter blankets. That is all.”

“Yes, Melody,” they both said and left.

“Sorry, everyone. I must have forgotten to get permission for our sleepover. But don’t worry, we’re fine. As you saw, they listen to everything I say now.”

“Don’t you mean _obey_ everything you say?” Luca said.

“Yes, exactly.”

“. . . And you’re OK with that?” I asked.

“Dresden, my parents have only ever seen me as a Rose. Not as Melody. The way they show their ‘love’ for me is buying me expensive things. They have never said ‘I love you,’ never hugged me when I was sad, or kissed me goodnight. The only time they’re ‘happy’ with me is after I perform at a recital. Even when I have been bedridden with sickness, the most they felt for me was cold concern. To them, a daughter is nothing more than a tool for accomplishing greatness. Now, they are the tools. It’s better this way.”

A shocked silence permeated the room at her cold declaration. Her parents returned with what she asked for.

“Just leave it at the door,” Fantasia said. “You may return to sleep. Dismissed.”

“Yes, Melody,” they said and left once again.

As we were setting up our bedding, Shanoa broke the silence first. “Well I think it’s great that we get to finally have a sleepover! And at Fantasia’s house, too! It’s been so much fun! Right, everyone?”

None of us could deny that.

“And at least your parents aren’t total arseholes anymore,” Fi said.

“But why didn’t you wish for your parents to love you?” I asked. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Fantasia sighed. “If I had wished that my parents love me, then that love would always be fake, because it would only exist because of my wish. Anyway, you, the Wish Warriors, are my real family. You love me, see me as a person, and it was your choice to love me. No wish forced you to. And I love all of you, too.”

Without much more conversation we turned in for the night, concluding our first ever Wish Warriors sleepover. Before, Fantasia’s parents were very strict with her bed time, so she was never allowed out late. Since we didn’t want to exclude Fantasia from any friend group activities, we never had sleepovers all together. _But is this really better?_

As I, who was closest to the door, turned off the lights, I thought I saw for a moment red eyes peering at me from somewhere in the room. I did a double take in the darkness, but all I saw was Fantasia’s enormous collection of plushies.


	8. Treasured Memory - Aloha Melody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Fantasia's smile is a most precious treasure, and this was the very first time I saw it, on the first vacation she took with me and my family."

June, two years ago.

Mr. and Mrs. Rose were the definition of business casual, from their expensive yet not flashy clothes to their perfectly manicured hair and their straight-as-a-rod posture. They wore the type of pleasantry smile that takes years of practice to hone, but that smile was not reflected in their eyes, which were stone cold.

My parents sat opposite of them, also dressed neatly but more casually, with Dad wearing a polo and khaki pants and Mom wearing a nice blouse and capris. All four of them sipped tea from special tea mugs that Andy’s appropriated from Japan as a result of Boss’s time living in Japan while he was in the U. S. Navy. If you ignored the presence of myself and Melody, who sat with our parents across from each other, this arrangement could easily be interpreted as a boss and their spouse wanting to get to know their newly hired employee and their spouse. Though that wasn’t too far from the truth, really.

“So Mr. and Mrs. Mort, what is it that you wanted to discuss with us?” Mr. Rose said in a trained neutral tone, which was the tone he always seemed to speak in.

“Well I don’t know if your daughter told you already,” Mom said, “But our daughter invited her to come with us on our family vacation to Hawaii. We talked it over and agreed that it would be wonderful to have Melody with us. Of course, with a decision like this Brendan and I wanted to meet with you to one, see if this is OK, and two, figure out the best way to do this if it is.”

“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Mrs. Rose said. “John?”

“It’s the first I’ve heard of this too,” Mr. Rose said.

Mrs. Rose gave Melody a hard look while Mr. Rose followed up with, “So how does your daughter know our Melody?”

“Um, we met at last month’s recital,” I said, speaking for the first time since this meeting started. “The one at the Pillar of Light cathedral.”

Mr. Rose’s gaze switched over to me appraisingly. “And what instrument do you play?” he asked.

“Piano.”

“She’s the one who played Debussy’s Nocturne L. 82 and Liszt’s _En reve,”_ Mrs. Rose said.

I nodded my confirmation. _Dang, her memory must be near perfect! Scary._

“Not bad,” Mr. Rose said. “What are your grades at school?”

“Straight A’s,” I said quietly, not making eye contact.

“Do you get up to trouble?”

“No, sir.”

“Drez is a good kid,” Dad said. “She’s kind, and she has a strong moral compass. May and I are very proud of her.”

It felt nice to receive a vote of confidence like that from my parents, especially in the face of such intimidating figures, though it didn’t make the apprehension go away.

Mr. Rose stroked his clean-shaven chin. “And what do you think of this, Melody?” he asked.

Melody’s mouth opened, but if she spoke any words I did not hear them.

“Speak up, Melody,” her mother said in an even tone to match her husband’s own, though for a second I saw her brow creased with impatience.

“. . . I want to go!” Melody nearly shouted, her head down and her eyes clamped shut.

“How long is this vacation?” Mrs. Rose asked.

“A week,” Mom responded. “We leave next Saturday, and we’ll arrive back the following Saturday.”

“What sort of activities will you be doing?”

My parents gave a brief but thorough explanation of our itinerary. The Roses seemed to appreciate that basically the entire trip was planned out in advance. I was surprised that the conversation had lasted this long.

But then Mrs. Rose said, “Melody won’t be able to participate in all of those activities. She has a rare type of arrhythmia, along with albinism. She has a pacemaker and is on medication that helps shorten the episodes, but she is still prone to dizziness and even fainting if she exerts herself too much. She requires constant monitoring. Not to mention the intense exposure to the sun would be terrible for her skin.”

At this point Melody’s face was in her hands, so red that I couldn’t tell if she was crying or just horribly embarrassed. As for me, this was the first I’d heard of her “arrhythmia,” whatever that was. I wanted to say or do something to comfort her, but I wasn’t brave enough to make a move with her parents watching.

“That is perfectly fine,” Mom countered instantly. “I’m a RN, and I already have to deal with constantly monitoring the health of my youngest daughter, who has type 1 diabetes.”

As Mrs. Rose took that in, Mr. Rose asked, “And what is it that you do for work, Brendan?”

“I work for the government,” Dad said, giving his default vague answer.

To my disbelief, Mr. Rose was nodding in approval. His wife rounded on him. “John, you aren’t seriously entertaining the idea of entrusting our daughter to the care of near strangers for an entire week?”

“The Morts seem perfectly qualified to take care of our Melody.”

“[beat] Will you excuse us a moment?” Mrs. Rose led her husband away for a private conversation, leaving their daughter behind.

I reached out and touched Melody’s arm. “Hey, are you OK?” I asked.

She nodded, but she didn’t put her hands down.

“So Melody, how old are you?” Mom asked gently.

“Twelve,” Melody answered (head still in her hands).

“Oh, so you’re the same age as Drez. Do you go to the same school?”

“No, I’m tutored at home.”

“Have you been to Hawaii before?” Dad asked.

Melody shook her head. “I haven’t even been to a beach.”

“It’s my first time to Hawaii, too,” I said.

“Well I promise you’ll have so much fun,” Dad said.

At my parents’ encouraging conversation, Melody had slowly lowered her hands. She hadn’t been crying after all. However, it was at this moment that her parents returned, and she went back to hiding her face, all progress lost.

Mr. Rose cleared his throat and said, “Floraine and I have decided to let our daughter go on this trip.”

Melody looked up at her father in total shock and disbelief.

“But that means you’ll have to practice all the harder when you get back, understand?” Mrs. Rose said to Melody.

“Yes,” Melody said emphatically.

Our parents sorted out the details of money, luggage, etc, exchanged contact information, and we parted ways. I waited until bedtime to text her.

D: I can’t believe your parents said yes! They’re so scary.

M: I think Father is trying to make a good impression with your parents. I can’t imagine him letting me go for any other reason. And yeah, they are pretty scary.

D: Well in any case, I’m so happy you get to come with me! We’re gonna have so much fun!

M: Yeah. I can’t wait.

Goodnight, Dresden.

D: Goodnight~

The following week couldn’t go by any more slowly. Not that there weren’t moments of fun. My entire family bought new swimsuits for the trip. I couldn’t find any one-piece or more modest two-piece swimsuits that I liked, so I got boys’ swim trunks and a swim shirt. Not thrilled with the idea of walking around Hawaii all day without underwear, I also bought a bikini to wear underneath. My parents were not pleased with my choice, but after my being relentlessly difficult and disagreeable toward their suggestions, they let me do as I please out of exasperation, under the caveat that I could not wear only the bikini. _As if wandering around in my underwear is a more appealing option than wandering around without underwear._

When my siblings found out that Melody would be coming with us to Hawaii, it caused some controversy. At various points all three of them had asked, “Can I bring a friend, too?” to which Mom replied, “Sure, but they’ll have to pay for their own ticket and for any activities they want to join in with us.” Naturally, none of their friends’ parents were willing to pay for their child to join another family’s vacation to Hawaii. But at least their families took vacations. When I had announced to my friends that I’d be going to Hawaii this summer, they were all jealous, of course. But when I found out that Melody’s jealousy came from never having any family time with her parents, I knew that I had to appeal to my own parents for her to join us.

DAY 1

We picked up Melody from her house early in the morning while it was still dark out in order to make our 9am Hawaiian Airlines flight. On the drive to the airport, I introduced her to my siblings – my older sister Ashlyn (16), my younger brother Brock (9), and my younger sister Cynthia (7), nicknamed Cici.

Melody’s parents bought her a first class ticket, and since we didn’t want her to fly alone, they upgraded me to first class, too.

“This is nice,” I said, reclining back in a cushy and roomy seat that resembled an entire armchair. “I’m guessing you always fly first class?”

“Yeah,” Melody said, “Though I don’t fly very often. Only when my recital is out-of-state or country.”

“Whoa, you’ve been to other countries?”

“Mostly Eastern Europe. Germany, Austria, Poland, places like that.”

I leaned over my armrest toward Melody. If I was in an anime my eyes would have been sparkling.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Germany! Have you been to Dresden?”

“Yes. Dresden is very pretty.” She broke eye contact, her face flushing a bit. Seeing her reaction caused me to reciprocate. I went back to reclining, hoping she hadn’t noticed. _She was talking about the city, not you, so stop blushing! . . . But then why was_ she _blushing?_

I made awkward attempts at conversation as the flight started moving along, but those attempts died quickly. Melody put on headphones and listened to what was probably classical music with her eyes closed. I played _Blasphemous_ on my Nintendo Switch, feeling increasing frustration at what I considered a lost opportunity to become better friends with Melody, who was the newest member of my friend group, and at my game, which was on the brutally unforgiving side. After about an hour an idea popped into my head that was so obvious that I hit my head back against my seat multiple times for not thinking it up earlier.

I tapped Melody on the arm. She opened her eyes, lowered her headphones, and gave an inquiring look.

“Do you want to play a game with me?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said.

I set the Nintendo Switch’s screen on a table in front of us and plugged it in to a nearby outlet. _Ah first class convenience!_

We spent most of the flight playing video games together. Mario Party was Melody’s favorite because it didn’t require any gaming skill. She didn’t have any game consoles or a gaming computer at her house, so that was understandable.

The flight was a little over nine hours long, and by the time we touched down on Oahu, picked up our rental SUV, grabbed some food from Walmart as a dinner of sorts, and checked into the Hilton at Waikiki, it was 4:20pm. Despite feeling lethargic from the long flight, my family wanted to hit the beach as soon as possible, so we changed into our swimsuits, packed up the necessary beach supplies, and walked out of the hotel onto Waikiki Beach.

Mom, Dad, and my younger siblings immediately jumped into the ocean, while Ashlyn, Melody, and I scoured the sand and shallow waves, competing to see who could find the coolest seashell (Ashlyn’s idea).

Once Melody and I were alone, Melody asked, “What do you think of my swimsuit? Be honest.”

I looked Melody up and down. Her splotchy sea green swimsuit was aesthetically exactly like a wetsuit – skin tight and covering her entirely from the top of the neck down to her ankles, leaving only her head, hands, and feet exposed. Her face was a bit red, which I found puzzling considering she applied SPF 10 billion (note: slight exaggeration) sunscreen, and we hadn’t been playing at Waikiki Beach for even 30 minutes yet.

“You look good in it,” I said.

“You don’t think it looks silly?”

“Not at all.” Pre-teen Melody was already starting to show some definition, unlike me. “You could be a _femme fatale_ from one of those spy movies. Anyway, you couldn’t look any sillier than me.”

“I don’t think you look silly. Though I was wondering about that.”

“Yeahhh I couldn’t find a swimsuit that I liked, so I picked a boy’s swimsuit instead. Though I am actually wearing a bikini underneath.”

“Really?” Was it my imagination, or did her face turn a shade redder?

“Yeah, but it doesn’t look good on me. I obviously don’t have the body type for it yet, unlike my older sister. Not that my parents would allow her to wear one. I wish your type of swimsuit was at the mall. I totally would have gotten it. I hate being sunburnt.” I imagined myself wearing the same kind of swimsuit as Melody, and the result was a short scarecrow girl. _Then again, perhaps not._

By the end of the contest, Melody found a medium conch shell the color of the sunset, I found a large spiral shell with only the middle intact, and my sister found a crab the size of her hand.

She held up the writhing crab, and I had to take a step back to avoid its pinchers.

“Hey, watch it!” I said.

“Isn’t it cool?” Ashlyn said, oblivious to my protest. “I think it wins.”

“But it’s not a shell.”

“It’s cooler than a shell.”

“Don’t be so sure.” I displayed my find, and Melody followed suit.

Ashyn appraised them. “Nah, the crab is the best. Though those are some pretty shells. We should use them to decorate a sand castle.”

“How did you manage to catch the crab?” Melody asked.

Ashlyn shrugged. “I just grabbed it out of the tide.”

In the end, the crab won after all, not that any of us really cared who won anyway. We didn’t keep it to decorate a sand castle, though, and we went back to the hotel soon afterward.

Our hotel room had two beds and one bathroom. Naturally, Mom and Dad got the first bed, and Cici and Melody shared the second bed. Ashlyn, Brock, and I laid out on the floor on the spaces between the beds, using extra blankets and pillows. I got the space next to the window and AC unit, below the side of the bed Melody slept on. This cramped situation was pretty standard for my family vacations. Granted we had an extra person with us this time, but it didn’t feel any less comfortable than usual.

DAY 2

After eating the hotel’s complimentary breakfast, we drove about twenty minutes to our first official activity of our vacation, dressed in our daytime casual wear. Though we weren’t going into the water, Melody still applied sunscreen.

“I have to put on sunscreen every time I am going outside for around thirty minutes or longer,” Melody explained when I asked about it, some embarrassment showing.

“What about when it’s cloudy outside?” I asked.

“No matter the weather or the season, so long as it is daytime out, I have to apply sunscreen.”

We packed into a helicopter with a large windowed view encompassing the entire cabin. There were just enough seats to fit all seven of us, which made my family the only passengers.

After chatting up my parents and giving a brief spiel on safety, the pilot cheerfully announced that we were taking off on our 360 Island Tour of Oahu. I heard his voice clearly through the headphones that we wore as he gave names and history and fun facts about the places we were flying over. I had never seen such naturally vibrant colors – the green of the tropical forests, the blue reflection of the ocean, both made even more eye-catching thanks to the mid-morning sun. However, the beautiful Hawaiian island was not the most radiant thing in my view.

Melody’s eyes gleamed with wonder, her mouth open in awe of the type of scenery that Enya sang about. If an outsider saw my family at this moment, they would see that this very same expression was mirrored on the faces of all of us kids, with my younger siblings even more animated than the rest of us, and thus would think nothing about Melody’s own expression. However, in the month I had known Melody, her face never strayed far from neutral, or even melancholic. To see her this way, face inches from the glass and with her own exclamations of amazement at Hawaii’s majesty, was to me a more thrilling sight. I wanted to kiss it.

It was at the moment that I thought this that Melody turned around. Her bright smile that was now aimed at me, the possibility that I had been staring too much at her, and the sudden eye contact overwhelmed me. I froze, my face flushing.

Upon seeing that, whatever Melody was about to say was stifled, and she flushed as much as I did before whirling back to continue looking out the window.

_What are you, a shoujo manga character?!_ The thought was directed at myself just as much as it was directed at Melody. _Maybe this is just how it goes when both friends are naturally very shy._

Out of the cloud of my confused thoughts I managed to mumble, “. . . very pretty, isn’t it?”

“Huh? Oh, um, yes, it is,” Melody answered without turning back around. “I can’t make out all of it, but the colors are really beautiful.”

I wanted to ask her about what she said, but I was too afraid to because our conversation was being broadcasted through our headsets to everyone else in the helicopter. Instead, I nodded in agreement. “Mmhm!”

After returning to the hotel to change into our swimsuits and pack some food, we hopped in the SUV and drove for an hour over to North Shore to the most famous snorkel spot on Oahu, Sharks Cove.

With our snorkel gear pre-tested in my family’s pool back home, we immediately dove into the waters. It took a moment for me to adjust to my flippers and not touching the coral, which was at times only a foot away from my stomach. I made it a game to follow a fish until they swam out of bounds, and that single-mindedness meant I bumped into other tourists more than a few times. With my family not too far away, we liked to go over and point out our more interesting finds to each other. There were a vibrant rainbow spectrum of fish, but my favorite fish in the water was once again a visibly happy Melody.

After a couple of hours Melody had to take a break, and I joined her. As we reclined in beach chairs under an umbrella and ate snacks, Melody said, “You don’t have to be with me the whole time. If you want to go back to snorkeling, you can. I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I like being with you.” While my words were true, I didn’t mention that I had promised Mom to keep track of her in case she experienced any health troubles.

“I like being with you too,” she returned with a blush and a smile.

 _So cute!_ I wanted to tell her so, but I also didn’t want to ruin the moment by making her self-conscious.

“. . . Hey, so on the helicopter you mentioned that you couldn’t always make out what we were flying over.”

“Yeah. Because of my albinism, my vision is a bit blurry. But that’s normal for me.”

“Can’t you wear glasses or contacts to correct it?”

“No, it’s not the kind of problem that prescription glasses fix. It has to do with the lack of color in my eyes rather than the shape of them. They’re also more photosensitive, which is why I wear sunglasses a lot.”

I didn’t think anything about how often she wore sunglasses because I wore sunglasses as much as she did.

“I do have reading glasses though,” she added. “They make words bigger.”

After Melody restored enough energy, she grabbed her large sun hat and we wandered over to the tide pools, which mostly consisted of sea urchins and crabs, though there was the occasional stray fish.

Unfortunately, by the time we left at sunset, none of us saw a single shark.

DAY 3

We went back to North Shore to snorkel at Turtle Bay, which wasn’t as crowded as Sharks Cove, and unlike Sharks Cove’s false advertising, Turtle Bay did actually have sea turtles. Beside my following around the sea turtles instead of the fish, the snorkeling experience was altogether the same. Still fun, though.

Around 2:00pm, we washed off the best we could in the showers so that we could peruse the many shops on North Shore. I swapped out my swim trunks and shirt with jean shorts and a short-sleeved hoodie, and threw on a baseball cap for good measure, with my ponytail sticking out of the back. My family made similar outfit changes. Melody wore a turquoise frock that matched the aquamarine of the swimsuit she wore underneath, along with her fashionable sun hat and a less-than-fashionable frown.

“Looking good!” I told her, giving my snappy thumb up of approval.

With that, she visibly relaxed, which made me give an involuntary, “Hehe!” She giggled in return.

We kicked off our shopping trip with food carts for a late lunch / early dinner sort of deal. My favorites were Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck and Matsumoto Shave Ice. Unlike basically any place that sells shrimp, Giovanni’s did not skimp on the shrimp, which is good since that’s their whole gimmick. The shrimp were also pretty large and full of seasonings. Everyone in my family (and Melody) got different kinds, and we shared them. My parents didn’t make Melody pay for her own food, even though she definitely had the money for it.

Of course the shrimp paled in comparison to the snow cones at Matsumoto Shave Ice.

“So many flavors!” I exclaimed. “And they even let us pick two! What kind are you going to get, Melody?”

“I’m not supposed to eat super sugary food,” she said.

I furrowed my brow. “Says who? Your parents?”

“My dietician.”

“Oh.”

“Do you have a problem eating sweets?” Mom asked.

“Not really. . .”

“Well every master dietician knows that a kid needs her dessert!” Dad said with a wink.

“Do it do it do it,” Cici chanted, wanting to be a part of the conversation.

“We can get four different flavors and share,” I offered.

“OK. I guess,” she gave in.

I got mango and passion fruit, and Melody got guava and papaya. Both of our shaved-ice mountains were snow-capped with sweetened condensed milk, which effectively made them ice cream. As it turned out, Melody was partial to mango and passion fruit, and I really liked the guava and papaya flavors.

“Why don’t you two trade?” Brock asked when he noticed that we were eating from each other’s snow cones more than our own.

I shrugged, mumbled noncommittally, and dove my spoon in for another bite of Melody’s shaved ice. Melody’s lack of an answer was answer enough for her part. We continued along like this, shoulder to shoulder, until the dessert was gone.

There weren’t as many of those tacky souvenir shops as I supposed. Rather, the majority of North Shore’s shops were either surf shops or outlet stores that carried brand name clothes and accessories – shirts, shorts, swimwear, sunglasses, footwear, etc. The Hawaiian brands were of even higher quality than the well-known names. Mom and Dad told me to look for a swimsuit, but I couldn’t be bothered, since trying on a swimsuit would involve me stripping down fully naked every time, and even though I knew I’d be in the changing room behind a locked door, I still found the idea troublesome. When I told my parents this, Melody asked, “What if I picked out the swimsuit for you?”

“That’s a great idea, daughter #1,” Mom said to Melody, immediately jumping on board.

“You have your mission,” Dad said in the tone of voice used by actors in over-the-top spy films.

Melody saluted. “I won’t let you down.”

“Hey!” I protested. “I haven’t agreed to any of this.”

“Please,” Melody said.

“. . . You’re lucky you’re so cute,” I grumbled.

“What?”

“Fiiiiiiiine. Lead the way.”

And from that point forward, Melody did indeed make it her mission to find me the perfect swimsuit. First, she led me around the store, comparing various swimsuits until she found her favorite in that store and had me try it on (she waited outside the changing room). I’d open up the door and “model” for her, and she’d snap a picture on her phone.

“It’s so that I can compare swimsuits from different stores to see which one is truly the best,” she explained.

She was efficient with this process, taking less time than my parents did to browse each store, who themselves were big shoppers.

At the fourth store, after scanning the area suspiciously, she handed me a two-piece that wasn’t much more than bikini. “Go try this on.”

“You know there’s no way my parents would let me wear this in public,” I said.

“But what if you only wore it in private?”

“Um. . . what?”

“I mean like at a pool at a friend’s or family’s house,” she backpedaled.

It was clear to me that she really wanted me to try this on. I reconsidered the swimsuit. It _was_ cute, with lace, ribbons, and frills that made it look like something out of a magical girls anime.

“Alright, I’ll try it on, but we can’t let my parents see. Which means,” I grabbed Melody’s hand, “you’re coming in with me.”

“W-wait!”

I pulled her inside the changing area stall with me before she could make a scene.

We stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“I guess I’ll sit down,” Melody said and took a seat on the bench.

“OK, here goes,” I said quietly, mostly to myself.

I removed my hoodie, then my jeans. I started undoing my bikini strap, but Melody’s undisguised staring slowed me to a stop.

“Um, would it be alright if you closed your eyes for this part?” I asked.

“Oh, um, sure,” she said. She covered her eyes with her hands.

That didn’t make me feel any less self-conscious, but I pushed through and put on the swimsuit. “You can look now.”

She looked like she had discovered buried treasure on one of the beaches. She snapped pictures on her phone while giving me directions like this was a professional photo shoot. “Now look over here. Put this arm here, and this arm right here. Shift your weight a little to the left. Stick out your chin a bit. Not that much.”

“Hey, Melody, are all these photos really necessary?”

“Absolutely.”

In the end, we didn’t buy the swimsuit. And since my family was too tired to go back to stores we visited previously, we didn’t buy any of the other swimsuits either.

Instead I got a t-shirt made entirely from Hawaiian cotton and dyes, some very comfy shorts, and slippuhz (the local and much better name for flip-flops, not to be confused with slippers). My parents offered to buy Melody something, but she adamantly refused.

“I already got what I wanted,” she said. She hadn’t bought anything.

DAY 4

If there was a mountain nearby, the Mort family would inevitably climb it. Such was the case for Oahu’s volcano, Diamondhead.

“I don’t wanna hike,” Cici complained as usual. “I wanna go to the beach!”

“The hike is only one-and-a half-miles,” Dad said. “You’ll live. And we’re going to the beach right after.”

“Are you up for hiking, Melody?” Mom asked.

“One-and-a-half miles shouldn’t be a problem for me,” Melody said.

Diamondhead was practically next door to our hotel, not even fifteen minutes away by car. That was where the convenience ended, however.

“Is the entire hike stairs?” This time it was Brock who was complaining. The hike started in the middle of the dormant volcano’s huge crater, and none of us kids were thrilled with about a mile of stair climbing, no matter how pretty the view at the top was supposed to be. The only one who hadn’t complained was Melody.

“Are you doing OK?” I asked her.

“Just a little out of breath,” she said.

Whenever my family hiked, I always ended up in the front because my pace was a bit faster than everyone else’s. Melody insisted on keeping up with me.

“You know, we could always slow down if you need to. It’s not a big deal.”

“I’m fine. Really.”

I took her word for it, reasoning that my family’s frequent breaks would allow Melody to catch her breath. However, the further we climbed, the more strained her breathing became.

I stopped walking. “Melody, we should really take a break and let you rest.”

Melody kept trudging along. In between ragged gasps, she said at barely more than a whisper, “I told you, I’m—”

Her next step wobbled, and then, as if she was made of jelly, she collapsed.

“Melody!” I shouted. I managed to catch her by the shoulders before her head could hit the ground. “Melody, can you hear me? Hey!” I shook her a bit, but she gave no response. Whereas her breathing before was borderline hyperventilating, now her breaths were too deep but still just as thin.

 _Oh crap oh crap what do I do?_ I called out to Mom, who, because of how far ahead we were from her and her bringing up the rear with Dad, had not witnessed the fall. The urgency in my voice brought her forward in a flash.

I was sitting on the ground and resting Melody in my lap as I tried to explain to her through my tears what happened. Mom took Melody’s pulse, then sat her up and listened to her heartbeat.

“She’s going to be OK, sweetie,” Mom assured me. “You don’t have to cry. Just keep her sitting up to help her breathe.”

We pulled over to the side of the trail to let other hikers pass. I sat on a bench that was luckily nearby, and I hugged Melody to keep her upright on my lap and faced her sideways so that I could see her face. Meanwhile, Mom and Dad discussed how to proceed with our hike.

“You know, you could just sit her next to you,” Ashlyn said, but I wasn’t having any of it. After a few minutes, the girl in my lap stirred.

“Melody, can you hear me? Are you OK?” I asked.

She nodded lethargically and mumbled an affirmative.

“Please don’t do that again. You scared me.”

“Sorry. . . I just didn’t want to slow you down.”

“That doesn’t matter. What does matter is your health. Got it memorized?”

“Um. . .”

“What?”

Her face had turned red, which was something I was getting used to seeing.

“You can let go of me now.”

Despite saying that, she made no effort to move off of me.

“Do you want me to let go of you?”

“. . . No.”

“Well OK then.”

Mom checked on Melody and asked her a few questions. After Mom made sure she was indeed alright and properly hydrated, Dad asked her, “Would you be OK with me giving you a ride piggyback?”

With some encouragement, Melody agreed, and we resumed our trek with no further incident. The view at the top of the ocean, the crater, and the greenery was beautiful, but the better view we had from the helicopter tour made this one underwhelming, even after all of those stairs.

After the hike, we ate at Teddy’s Burgers, which was a first for Melody, who had never been to a burger joint before. The burger and fries were too greasy for her liking, but she did enjoy her strawberry milkshake.

The next few hours were spent snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We planned on spending the rest of the day there, but it was much smaller than we thought. Melody rested on the beach while I snorkeled for a bit. When everyone was done, we turned in to the hotel and relaxed at Waikiki Beach.

DAY 5

This was our breather day. We visited the graves of some of our great-relatives at the National Memorial Center of the Pacific, and we toured Pearl Harbor, where I gave a much more interesting historical account than what was provided, much to the chagrin of my siblings. Melody thought I was funny, at least. Then we toured Dole Plantation, which was probably the biggest tourist trap on the island. The Dole whip (basically pineapple sherbet) was yummy, though. We visited a few more shops, ate malasadas, and dined at Duke’s, which was a casual but nice sit-down restaurant off of Waikiki with decent sea food and absolutely scrumptious desserts. To change things up, we hung out at the hotel’s pool afterward rather than the beach.

DAY 6

Today was my day to complain. “Fishing is _boring._ Can’t I stay at the hotel?”

“You haven’t even tried it yet,” Dad said. “You could end up liking it.”

After seeing my skeptical expression, he added, “C’mon, doesn’t _deep sea fishing_ sound exciting?”

“Nothing with the word _fishing_ in it sounds exciting.”

“Well you’re coming whether you like it or not, so you might as well make the most of it,” Mom said.

_Challenge accepted._

“I’ve got something!” Melody exclaimed two hours after we started our “expedition,” to give it a more exciting name.

“That sound. . .” I said. “I recognize that sound.”

“What?”

“You mean you didn’t feel it? The low rumble of a monster’s roar. There it is again, those tremors that threaten to shake our ship apart! This isn’t just a fish you’ve hooked – it’s Leviathan!”

“Leviathan?! But what is a monster like that doing here?”

“Every year the fairest of maidens is sacrificed to Leviathan in order to keep it from flooding the world. It must have heard such a maiden is here in Hawaii and in its hunger became impatient. Or maybe it intends to break the truce. In any case, I, a master mage, shall help you defeat it!”

“What do I do, Master Mage?”

“Reel it in, slowly and steadily. Make sure the line doesn’t snap. Wrestle with it so that it does not wrestle control away from you. I’ll be beside you the whole way, casting my strongest of magics!”

While Melody struggled to reel in the colossal sea serpent, I shouted out incantations that I made up on the fly and declared names for powerful sounding spells, with each spell getting its own pose. This drew contempt from some fellow fishers on the boat, and laughs from some others. My parents asked me a few times to quiet down, which I would for a minute before carrying on.

“Rrrrraaaaghhhhh!” With exaggerated effort, Melody ripped the fish out of the water.

“Leviathan is a lot tinier than I expected,” she remarked.

“Yes well, thanks to my spellcraft and your unfailing strength, Leviathan is now in our grasp as a puny fish. This time it is _we_ who shall feast on _it!”_

After a most heroic high five, we were informed that this was catch and release.

“The fools,” I said. “They know not what terror they are allowing to escape. It will be back.”

“But we will be ready,” Melody said.

Between the two of us, that was the only fish we caught.

The second half of the day was spent at the swap meet, which was a huge outdoor market held in a stadium. The goods ranged from tacky tourist paraphernalia to high quality homemade Hawaiian trinkets.

After wandering around for a bit and getting a sense of the place, I turned to Melody. We spoke at the same time.

“Melody.”

“Dresden.”

“Um, you go first,” I said.

“Would it be alright if we separated for a bit? Not because I’m mad at you or anything like that, but—”

“Actually I was about to ask the same thing. I got an idea.” I tapped my forehead. “How about this? We’ll text each other when we’re done. That way we don’t accidentally spoil what the other is doing. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“Hold on, kiddos,” Dad said. “You’re not going off on your own.”

Our family split in half. Dad, Ashlyn, and I went one way, and Mom, Melody, Brock, and Cici went the other. I smiled at the sight of Cici grabbing Melody’s hand and pulling her along excitedly.

“So what is this idea of yours?” Dad asked.

I shrugged. “I just want to get Melody a present. That’s all.”

“Like what? Isn’t she rich?” Ashlyn pointed out.

“Yeahhh. That’s the tricky part. It needs to be something that _means_ something.”

“Do you have any idea what that could be?” Dad said.

“Let’s just walk around and if I find it then I find it.”

And that is exactly what we did, though it was slow going thanks to Dad being Dad and taking his time to browse. While taking a break to buy fresh coconuts as a refreshment, a stall that we had somehow missed caught my attention. I say “somehow,” but it was easy to figure out why. It was hardly even a stall – just a man sitting in a chair under an umbrella next to a modest table displaying necklaces. However, unlike the phony jewelry that nearly every other stall offered, these were the real deal, made with bone, jade, ebony, and abalone, and carved with obvious care into complex and unique designs.

“I carved all of these myself,” the vendor, a big Hawaiian man, said.

I gawked with undisguised eagerness. “Whoa, that one is so cool!” The necklace in question was the biggest of the bunch, a skull carved out of bone and surrounded by a halo of thin pointed teeth, like it was some kind of voodoo sigil.

“You like it? That one’s my pride and joy. I always make one big one with a fully unique design. Only one in existence. Once someone buys it, it’s gone.”

“How much is it?”

“$350.”

“Oh.” _Dang it, my parents only gave me $100 in spending money._ I shook the thought away. _Hold up, you aren’t supposed to be shopping for yourself anyway. Remember your mission!_

I looked through the other twenty or so designs on the table and found what I had been searching for.

“How much for that one?” I asked, pointing.

“A music lover, aye? Since it’s made out of whale bone, it’s a bit more expensive than the others. $180.”

I gave Dad a pleading look and said, “Please Dad, she’d really like this one.” Dad pursed his lips in thought.

“You said ‘she,’” the vendor said. “Is this a gift for someone special?”

“Yeah, she’s really important to me.”

“I’ll tell you what, cousin. I can bring down the price to $130. How about it?”

Dad nodded, and with his help I happily exchanged the money for the necklace.

“Thank you so much!” I said.

When we met back together with the other half of the family, I didn’t ask Melody about her present, and she didn’t ask me about mine. They would remain secret until the perfect moment.

DAY 7

We spent the entire day at Kailua Bay, which was a surfing beach. Mom and Dad payed for an instructor to show us the ropes for the first part of the day, since none of us had surfed before, but the two boards they rented from the shop, we had for the whole day. In between taking turns surfing, we played beach soccer (Luca wasn’t there to correct me on using this word heheheheheh), jumped around in the water, and had a sand castle competition. At one point, Ashlyn and I became sea weed monsters and wrestled each other (she won, of course, since she was bigger than me). Me, Melody, and my younger siblings also had a conversation with a sea lion chillin’ on the beach. We ended the action-packed day with a hole-in-the-wall named Alola Crepes, which in my opinion had the best food on the island. If only we had found it earlier.

DAY 8

Our flight home was at 11:00am, so we didn’t have to get up super early. Melody was quieter than usual, but when I asked her if she was OK, she nodded with an affirmative, “Mm-hm.”

“Say goodbye to Waikiki,” Mom said as we drove away.

We waved goodbye with our arms sticking out the windows except Melody, who had big tears rolling down her cheeks, unable to hold herself in anymore.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life,” she said through her gasps and tears. “I don’t want it to end.”

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.

My parents exchanged concerned glances.

“Oh sweetie it’ll be OK,” Mom said. “We’ll have more family trips.”

“That’s right,” Dad said. “And you are invited to every single one of them.”

“Are you sure?” Melody asked.

“Of course,” Dad assured her. “We’ve loved having you on this vacation with us.”

“Just think of us as your second family,” Mom added.

After a bit more crying, Melody managed to say, “Thank you.”

On the plane flight home, back in our first class seating, I pulled out the necklace.

“I got this for you,” I said, handing it to her.

“Oh my gosh,” Melody said. She held it up to examine it. It was whale bone delicately carved into a treble clef that ended in the classic Hawaiian fish hook design. She put it on.

“I wanted to get you something to remember the trip by, and to symbolize our friendship or whatever,” I said casually.

“I love it. Thank you so much!” She leaned over, hugged me, and kissed me on the cheek, turning them red, which I was sure Melody was getting used to.

“I have something for you too,” she said. From her bag she revealed the voodoo skull necklace.

Now it was my turn to say, “Oh my gosh!” She gave it to me.

“This is from the same shop I got yours from,” I said. “I remember this necklace because of how awesome it is.”

“Hehe, I thought you’d like it. Actually, that explains something. The shopkeeper insisted on giving me a discount, even though I told him I didn’t need it. I think he figured us out.”

I put the necklace on while she talked. “How does it look?”

“It’s certainly eye-catching.”

“I wonder if they’ll let me wear it at school. . . Oh! I almost forgot! Thank you so much!” Following her lead, I leaned over and hugged her and went in for a kiss on the cheek. Except at that moment, Melody turned her head toward me, probably to say something, so I ended up kissing her right on the lips.

“Oh, um, I didn’t, I mean, sorry!” After my eloquent whatever that was, I sunk into my seat, eyes shut tight. If I was a cartoon character, that would have been a KO. This lasted for a solid ten minutes.

I found it odd when my parents drove to our house before driving Melody back to hers. The question in her expression reflected that she noticed this turn of events as well.

Dad led us all in unpacking the car while Mom said, “Melody, could you come here for a second?” She led Melody into her room and closed the door.

“What’s going on?” I asked Dad.

“Grown up stuff,” Dad said. “Don’t worry, she’s not in trouble.”

Mom’s talk with Melody lasted five minutes, and Melody seemed untroubled by it. When we were alone in my room (she followed me up while I was bringing my luggage to my room), I asked her, “What did my mom have to say?”

“Oh, she asked me if my parents were abusing me,” Melody said.

“For real?” At that moment, my mom (and my dad, too, since he was obviously in on it) were the coolest people I knew.

“Yeah. But don’t worry, I’m not being abused.”

“Good. You know, Melody, you really do have an open invitation. You can come over whenever you want. I’ll even text whenever my family decides to go out and do something. We love you.”

She looked like she was about to cry again. “I love you too.” We hugged.

On the car ride back to her house, Melody made me swear not to tell Luca, Fieros, or Shanoa about her health problems. I have kept that promise to this day, and to this day we still wear our Hawaiian necklaces.


	9. White Mage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I thought that the Wish Warriors would last forever. . ."

The moment we leapt into the labyrinth, we were rushed through a series of doors of various makes and dropped off in the middle of a huge, round room with a tall ceiling, no windows, and no doors. A crystal chandelier swung erratically, casting an unsteady yellow light about the room. Pictures of toys and food and animals swam around us on the walls in time with the varying speed of the chandelier like an out-of-control merry-go-round.

Between two of the classical pillars that formed vertical stripes up the walls was a grand throne carved with golden arabesque designs. Seated on the burgundy velvet cushions of that throne was a teenage girl dressed in fancy clothes that matched the aesthetic of the room. She leaned on one of the arm rests, her hand against her chin as she watched us with a bored expression. There was no witch, no familiars, just this girl, but our instruments were summoned at the ready regardless.

“What’s going on?” I asked her. “Where’s the witch? Did you already beat it?” I left a pause after each question to give her space to answer, but she did not speak up, didn’t make any reaction at all to my questions. She didn’t even blink. I continued, “Sorry to intrude. We didn’t know that there were other magical girls in Vela Nova. Well, except one. We’ll go if you want, but we’re more than happy to help, too.” After another pause with no response from her, I added an impatient, “So, which shall it be?”

After a beat of silence, the girl leapt out of her chair and, when she landed on the floor, extended her arm. Out of a beam of light a double-edged glaive with tiny angel wings appeared instantly in her outstretched hand. Matching white wings unfurled from the back of her dress.

“Stop!” Shanoa said. “We don’t want to fight you. Let’s just defeat the witch so we can all go home. I’ll even treat you to some Andy’s.”

The other magical girl tensed, bending her knees, and light concentrated on her blade.

“I don’t think she can be reasoned with,” Fantasia said.

The other magical girl finally opened her mouth to reply, but instead of words, she spoke garbled gargling gibberish.

“Get ready for a fight,” I said.

Fi shouted, “We are the Wish Warriors, bringing you Affection Infection! Let’s go!” She ripped into her guitar, and a few measures later the rest of us joined in on our first (and currently only) song.

The opposing magical girl fired a beam of light straight ahead and rushed forward after it. The beam scored a direct hit through Fantasia’s stomach, but the follow-up attack was blocked by Luca, who teleported in front of Fantasia and produced a magic barrier with her bass-playing. Fantasia keeled over, clutching at a black, burnt splotch on her stomach, and she missed her cue to start singing.

 _Fantasia, are you OK?_ I sent.

 _Do we start over?_ Shanoa sent at the same.

 _No, keep going,_ Fantasia sent. _It hurts, but I’ll be fine._

Our opponent, upon striking against Luca’s barrier, putting the two of them practically nose to nose, backflipped high into the air and away. Shanoa caught her mid-flip with her steady drum beat and knocked our opponent backward through the air by degrees until she struck against the wall and fell ungracefully onto the throne across its arm rests.

By this time I managed to summon three basic skeleton soldiers wielding arming swords, and Fantasia regained her composer and began singing. Now that our opponent was far enough away from the band, Fi unleashed waves of flames that synchronized with each of her down-strums. The first few waves reached the girl, burning her skin and hair and clothes, but she recovered quickly back to her feet in a defensive stance and dispersed the flames by spinning her glaive in front of her.

However, we quickly overwhelmed her with our relentless assault of fire, physical blows, and undead soldiers. After our attacks broke through her guard, inflicting heavy damage, she produced a blinding flash of light, stunning us out of performance for a few seconds.

In the time it took for me to rub my eyes, our opponent flew into the air using her dress’s angel wings and held her glaive aloft. Pillars of lightning rained down upon us, but Luca anticipated the attack. Thanks to her improvised bass solo, the lightning didn’t reach us, but struck a barrier directly above our heads. Luca growled under the pressure.

I jumped back into the song with my keyboard to support Luca’s magic, relieving some of her strain. Shanoa tried once again swatting our opponent out of the air with her drumming, but this time our opponent expected this. She nimbly dodged the blows with acrobatic spins, despite Shanoa’s attacks having no material form beside a smattering of bright color when the impacts landed.

Fi back Shanoa up with some improvised shredding, and pillars of fire erupted from the ground, combining with the lightning from above to make the battlefield as dazzling as it was deadly. The supposed queen of this ballroom narrowly danced around every attack. But in spite of her lively performance, her face was as expressionless as ever.

However, her dance ended when Fantasia’s singing reached her, washing over her and slowing her down considerably. Immediately Shanoa smacked her straight down to the ground, and Fi spawned a pillar of fire directly underneath her. For a moment, she was a silhouette in a firestorm, and then the lightning strikes let up, and she slumped forward to the ground.

“Do you think she’s OK?” Shanoa asked.

“Does she _look_ OK to you?” Fi said.

“You know what I mean!”

I looked around the room for any sign of the witch, but there was none.

“Everyone be extra careful,” I said. “This witch probably has some kind of mind control magic. Now that we defeated this girl, it might try to take control of one of us. If anything weird happens psychically, let everyone know immediately, got it?”

Everyone agreed. We gathered around the unconscious girl, weapons still drawn.

“What’s that smell?” Shanoa said.

“Well I did burn her,” Fi said. “Of course she’d stink.”

“Is she breathing?” Fantasia asked.

We fell silent as we regarded the unnatural stillness of the girl. Luca checked her pulse, then backed away rapidly.

“She’s dead,” Luca said.

“Oh no,” Shanoa said with absolute horror on her face.

Fi cursed. “I didn’t want to _kill_ her.”

“. . . What should we do?” Fantasia asked sadly.

“We still need to defeat the witch,” Luca said.

“We can’t just leave her here!” Shanoa said.

“I guess one of us could drop off her body outside the labyrinth,” Luca said.

“No,” I said. “I’ll have one of my undead legion carry her out of the labyrinth. It would be best for us not to split up.”

I played a tiny melodic progression on my keyboard and did as I said. However, as the skeleton picked the corpse up off of the ground, the corpse began to walk, dragging my skeleton with it, back to the throne.

We stared dumbfounded, hesitating because none of us wanted to touch a zombie, and on the other end none of us wanted to mutilate her body further.

I played a follow-up to my melodic progression. _Seize her!_ I commanded my skeletons. The two on stand-by joined the one who had been trying to hoist the corpse over its shoulder. A scuffle ensued as my undead legion struggled to hold her down, but with a blast of lightning she destroyed my skeletons. The dead magical girl resumed her place on the throne, sitting exactly as she had upon our arrival.

Suddenly with crackling electricity a bright glowing aura flared to life around her. Her burns faded, and there were cracks and pops as bones set themselves back in alignment.

“The throne is the witch! Attack the throne!” I said.

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Fi said. “Alright, let’s take it from the top.”

Fi played the opening riff for Affection Infection once again, and on cue the rest of us joined in. This time, we focused on an all-out attack. Fi hurled human-sized fireballs one after another, I had five of my undead legion surround the throne and bash it with their weapons, Fantasia embrittled the throne by freezing it, Luca weakened the throne with a visibly powerful earthquake, and Shanoa bombarded it with a figurative hail of bullet punches.

In retaliation the aura went haywire with electricity shooting out everywhere and its brightness flaring to new levels of blinding. We closed our eyes, and though the occasional bolt of electricity struck us, we played on undeterred. The entire room shook so violently that the chandelier came crashing down on top of us.

Without any form of communication, Luca shifted her focus to throwing up a shield above us, and the rest of the band held back their individual magics so that the music we played would all go toward strengthening Luca’s magic.

The crystal pieces of the chandelier shattered around us in explosions of light. A huge explosion erupted as the main body of the chandelier dropped directly onto Luca’s shield wall, washing the entire room in blinding white as it all came tumbling down.

With a final strangled cry from the witch and the last notes of our song, the labyrinth vanished, and we were back on the streets of Vela Nova proper.

“We did it! We did it!” Shanoa proclaimed, latching on to the nearest person, which happened to be Fi, and bouncing up and down.

For a moment we celebrated like that with hugs and high fives and exclamations until Shanoa suggested we go over to Andy’s to properly celebrate. Caught up as we were in the moment, we almost forgot about the grief seed, and the dead body next to it.

“What should we do about her?” I asked. My voice caught a little. Even though I never even knew her name, I couldn’t help but feel sorrowful over her fate.

“I’d say drop her off with her family, but we have no way of figuring out who that is,” Fantasia said.

After silently contemplating the matter, I said, “Fi, could you, um, cremate her?”

“Uhhh yeah, sure, I guess,” Fi said. After we made sure the coast was clear, she lit the corpse on fire with a technical death metal guitar solo. We stood back and watched reverently as the white hot flames slowly consumed the body of the fellow magical girl and transformed it to ash.

We sat at our usual table in the corner of the café. A live jazz band played on a stage, and the lighting was relaxingly easy on the eyes. Shanoa went into the kitchen and came out not with Boss, but a 6’2” black woman who somehow managed to make a cook’s apron and a hair net stylish.

“Hi girls,” Andy said in her usual friendly yet motherly tone.

“Hi Andy,” we greeted back.

“Now isn’t it a bit late for y’all?”

“We had our first live performance today, and we wanted to celebrate,” I said.

“Oh that’s right, y’all turned yourselves into a rock ‘n’ roll band. The Dream Warriors, right?”

“Wish Warriors,” I corrected.

“Well I won’t rain on your celebration, but do make sure to go home soon after so that your parents don’t worry, OK? Especially you, baby girl.”

“Yes Mom,” Shanoa replied curtly.

Andy took our orders (Shanoa had to order for Fi again), and when she came back with our treats, she also handed us a flier. “Metal Mondays” was plastered in red letters above a graphic with a hand wearing a spiked bracelet doing the sign of the goat against a black background. At the bottom it listed the time: 7:00pm to closing.

“We love to support the local music scene,” Andy said with a wink. “Since you girls seem intent on staying up late anyway.”

The Heavy Music Club was in full swing. Though not a real club, every weekday after school Fi drove us over to Fantasia’s house where we practiced in her soundproof music room.

“ _Hola,”_ Luca said as she waved away her ride and came inside.

“Who is this chick?” Fi said.

“Meet our new band member,” Shanoa said with jazz hands. “She’s here to replace our old bassist who never showed up to band practice. But she only speaks Spanish, so she could be hard to communicate with.”

 _“Muy divertida,”_ Luca said. She tried walking past, but Fi blocked her.

“Girl, why don’t you just quit soccer?”

“Football.”

“Whatever. Are you really so weak that you can’t defy your parents?”

Luca snorted. “I’m not doing this for my parents _._ I’m doing it for me. I’m on track for a college scholarship.”

“What.”

“Haven’t you ever thought about where you want to go after high school?”

“What are you even saying? We’re a band now, and magical girls. _This_ is our future. The only one who doesn’t realize this is you.”

“. . . This is my fault, isn’t it?” I said, cutting in. “I made my wish thinking that we’re all going the same direction, that we’d grow up and stay together forever. I didn’t take into consideration y’all’s dreams for the future. I’m sorry. None of you have to be a part of Wish Warriors if you don’t want to.”

“Yo, what is this crap your spewing? Of course I want to be a Wish Warrior. Being a rockstar is like the coolest ever, especially with my friends!” Fi said.

“I don’t want us to split up,” Shanoa said. “We’re having so much fun!”

“Look, I’m not saying I don’t want to be a part of the band,” Luca said. “I already said as much when we started being magical girls. I’m just saying that, realistically, our high school days won’t last forever. Sooooo let’s enjoy them while we can, OK?”

With that being said, she headed into the music room, prompting the rest of us to do the same.

Fantasia put a hand under my chin and lifted my downcast face so that we were staring into each other’s eyes. “Dresden, no matter what happens, you and me will always be together.” She leaned over and kissed my forehead, then walked off before I could react.

“You missed,” I muttered, and followed after her.

Learning our individual parts for our songs was what we did during personal music practice, which allowed us to focus on putting it all together during band practice. Taking on one song at a time, we’d play at a slower tempo with a metronome, gradually picking up the pace until we could play at the intended BPM. We also practiced on different ways and places for improvising solos so that we could adapt to any situation, and on playing a setlist continuously without pause so that we wouldn’t lose momentum or become vulnerable in-between songs. Thanks to the effects of my wish, our progress was unnaturally fast, and in no time we had a three-song setlist at the ready.

Taking a step into this labyrinth was taking a step into the abyss. It was like all of my senses had been turned off. I couldn’t feel anything under foot, but I wasn’t falling, so there must have been some kind of floor.

“Is everyone here?” I asked, my words slicing through the unnatural silence like a dull knife with a whistle attached.

“I’m here,” Fi said.

“Here,” Fantasia said.

“Yep,” Luca said.

“Nope,” Shanoa said.

_I think it might be best if we didn’t speak out loud,_ Fantasia sent.

_Agreed,_ I sent. _Fi, could you give us a light?_

 _Alright._ Fi played a chord progression and a ball of flame appeared above her head. For a moment, I could see everyone’s faces. In the next moment, the fireball disappeared. An unseen force sucked it away, returning the labyrinth to its original dark state. Fantasia grabbed my hand.

_Now what?_ Fi sent.

We contemplated that question in silence. We heard and felt nothing.

_Clearly this witch is a master of stealth,_ Shanoa sent.

_Maybe if we wait here, the witch will come to us?_ Luca suggested.

_I don’t like that idea,_ Fantasia sent. _Letting the witch decide the attack is too risky._

 _It’s better than wandering around in the dark,_ Luca sent. _For all we know, the environment could be hazardous._

 _Well how else are we supposed to find the witch?_ Shanoa sent. _We either move or we don’t move. It’s gonna be pitch black either way._

 _Let me try something,_ Fi sent. She played another chord progression, but this time she played continuously. The fireball which appeared over our heads tried to grow bigger, but at the same rate its essence was being sucked away.

_Here, as long as I keep playing, we have a light,_ Fi sent.

That being said, I still couldn’t see anything besides ourselves.

Fantasia peered up at our tiny sun thoughtfully. _I have an idea of where we should go,_ she sent. _Do you see how the fire is being pulled away in a certain direction? I bet if we follow it, we’ll find our witch._

With a plan decided, we set off deeper into the abyss, making sure to stay close together. Our footsteps made no sound, and despite our caution, it appeared that this labyrinth was entirely flat with no geographical or architectural features of any kind.

_Look,_ I sent, pointing skyward at a star that had flickered into existence in front of us. The moment I did so, we whooshed toward it as if the star was a vacuum sucking us in. There was the sound of invisible doors opening in sequence, and then suddenly we were there, where Fi’s flames had disappeared to.

Before us, flickering with a harsh light, was what I presumed to be the witch. Its surface was dark and smooth like tinted glass, with tube-like skinny limbs connecting sharp geometric shapes. It lied motionless in a tangled mess on the ground, like a marionette that had been dropped by its puppeteer. The witch made no indication acknowledging our presence, despite its light illuminating our surroundings better than Fi’s floating fireball, which had entirely disappeared.

 _It has to know we’re here, right?_ Luca asked.

_According to Kyubey, a witch is always aware of what goes on in its labyrinth,_ I sent.

_Maybe we caught it when it’s sleeping?_ Shanoa sent.

_Well I’m not gonna complain,_ Fi sent. _Let’s blast this thing!_

We got into position, spreading out a bit, magical instruments at the ready.

_Count us off, Shanoa,_ Fantasia sent.

_Oh, right,_ she sent, and then she called out, hitting her drumsticks in time with her count, “Love Curse on one, two, one two three four!”

We unleashed our latest song, a rock n roll number in the vein of Heart. It was basically a step down from thrash metal. Fieros’s galloping guitar slashed at the witch with shockwaves of flame, while Shanoa’s beats were like a series of punches assailing the witch’s body. I summoned two skeletons soldiers, one wielding a greatsword, and the other wielding a warhammer, and commanded them to attack the unmoving monster. I wasn’t aware of what Luca and Fantasia were doing – their magic being less obvious than the others’ – but it didn’t matter because the witch was entirely undamaged.

_Everyone stop!_ I sent. _Something’s wrong._

My telepathic message hushed our song.

Before anyone had a chance to ask _what?,_ the witch literally flared to life, its luminosity so bright we had to shield our eyes. With deep reverberations reminiscent of a church organ, it stood upon its feet and faced us. It was six people tall and six people wide, with a golem-like body supported by seven limbs – two legs and five arms. One of its large clawed hands clutched a helmet-like head, which was trained on us.

The sound of the witch interrupted our song magic, and in the moment it took us to adjust to the new soundscape, the witch seized the opportunity for attack. With a high-pitched tone and a blinding flash it shot out a ring of energy that threw us all to the ground ten feet back.

I gasped as I touched my face. The witch’s energy blast had burned my exposed skin. My body ached as I stood up and grabbed my keytar.

“Is everyone OK?!” I shouted instinctively, but my shout was drowned out by the witch’s hands all glowing with greater intensity and humming with their own notes, which together created a multi-octave harmony. Two lasers fired from two of its hands, one of them directed right at me.

“Crap!” I said in surprise and frantically played on my keyboard, making sure that my own notes complimented rather than conflicted with the witch’s own sound. _Protect me!_

A skeleton rose in front of me and intercepted the laser with a greatshield. It turned to ash after taking the attack, but I was unharmed.

The other laser headed toward Shanoa, who was sitting at her drum kit and in no position to dodge. She screamed, her eyes clenched shut, bracing for impact, but Luca dove into the line of fire playing a jumping slap bassline. The laser struck the force field Luca created, parting around the two girls.

“Thanks Luca!” Shanoa said, but Luca was already gone, teleporting in front of Fantasia just in time to protect her from the next laserbeam volley. Another one headed toward Fi, but she was ready for it and dodge rolled out of the way, narrowly escaping it by a few inches.

The witch put its hands together in front of its body, palms facing outward, and they started to glow white hot.

_I don’t think I can keep this up by myself,_ Luca sent.

_We need to resume our song,_ Fantasia sent. _Let’s start over from the beginning._

 _Transpose to C minor,_ I added. _That way our playing won’t be interrupted by the witch’s blasts._

 _And Luca, you’re falling out of time,_ Fantasia admonished. _Try to keep up with Shanoa._

 _Sorry!_ Luca sent.

Shanoa counted off again, her voice shaky. “One two three four!”

We got back to playing our song as the witch fired off a huge beam directed entirely at Luca. “Rrrrrraaaaaaggghhhh!” she growled as she struggled to continue playing while under fire.

_Luca, you need to stay in time,_ Fantasia sent. _You’re going too fast._

 _I’m trying!_ Luca sent.

Of course, the rest of us did our best to disrupt the witch with our own attacks, but it didn’t even flinch. Fantasia supported Luca to strengthen her defense, but it wasn’t as strong as it could be. Thankfully, despite Luca being out of sync, she withstood the attack. When the witch relented, Luca fell to her knees, breathing heavily. _I’m OK,_ she assured us. _Just need a minute._

The rest of us continued on with the song, and the fight, without her. The witch went dark after its last attack, and now it stalked toward us with heavy steps. Fantasia’s vocals soared, and I could hear tiny cracks forming on the witch. Fi’s shred translated into a flamethrower’s stream, and the witch caught fire. Shanoa’s drumming kept up a steady offense, but it only managed to slow the witch a bit and did no visible damage. I summoned skeletons to attack it, but with its many limbs it swept my undead legion aside, defeating them in one or two hits. I only managed to keep three skeletons alive at a time. I made a mental note to work on making stronger units more readily available during my next practice session.

Despite the intensity of Fi’s guitar playing, the witch marched forward seemingly unbothered by the flames. When the witch started glowing again, it clicked.

_Fi, stop playing!_ _The witch is absorbing your flames and converting it into energy!_ I sent.

“Crap!” Fi exclaimed, ending her solo abruptly.

The witch, no longer burning and now filled with light, ran at Fi with frightening speed. Fi bolted, her speed bolstered by Fantasia’s singing. Flame jets shot out from her boots, but Fi was having difficulty concentrating on playing and running simultaneously, and the jets were weak.

Shanoa played her heart out, kicking up the speed and intensity as much as she could. Fantasia and I managed to keep up, and I used my skeletons as obstacles, though like Shanoa’s magic, it was doing little against the glowing one. The witch was gaining on her.

 _Luca, we could really use your shield right about now!_ I sent.

_I’m trying! I’m trying!_ Luca, revived, jumped back into playing the song, but she couldn’t keep up.

The witch grabbed Fi, who wriggled in its grasp in vain. It concentrated all of its light into the hand holding her, and with a booming dissonant organ chord, Fi became a star. She screamed as all of the witch’s energy poured into her, and when the radiance died, she went limp. The witch discarded the charred body with a powerful hurl. Fi skidded along the ground. She did not stir.

We unconsciously stopped playing, the resulting silence accentuating the horror of what just happened.

All of us reached out telepathically to Fi, our mental shouts overlapping each other. But the link to her mind was gone, leaving our cries to ricochet in each other’s heads.

“No. . .” I don’t remember who said this. It could have been any of us, or all of us.

The witch turned toward us and began its slow march, only a spark of light in its core powering its body. We were frozen.

Luca was the first of us to react. With a growl she charged at the witch, holding her instrument aloft like a weapon as the shield part of it grew in size. She swung at the witch. The impact made her shudder, and the witch smacked her aside. But Luca got up and rushed her again.

I joined her for the second attack, following her lead by concentrating my magic into my musical instrument. The piano keys shrunk to being an aesthetical detail while the scythe part enlarged. I swiped at the witch’s legs, and I heard a crack. The witch brought one of its fists down, but I dodged backward, only to be backhanded by another of its fists and sent flying several yards away. I heard another crack, this one coming from my own body. I winced as I stood back up. A couple of my ribs were broken, but thanks in part to my magic and in part to my rage I was able to numb the pain and rush back into the fray.

Shanoa came at the witch as well, her drumsticks now twin hammers. Fantasia stayed back and continued to sing to weaken the witch’s natural defenses. Meanwhile, Luca had switched back to playing her bass, throwing up a shield wall that protected the three of us from the Witch’s punches. More cracks spiderwebbed across its body. We had it on the ropes. Or so I thought.

Like a wound inflicted by a serrated blade, a part of the labyrinth boundary ripped open to let inside another witch. The witch was the size of a skyscraper. Its head was a slowly spinning globe of the world that wore a gold laurel crown. It had no arms, but it was wrapped in a cloak made of hands overlapping like the feathers of a bird. Instead of feet, a steady stream of white flame billowed out from the opening at the bottom of the cloak.

The intruding witch drew near but stayed floating in the sky, looking down at everything. The obsidian golem witch switched targets as it absorbed the white flames from the newcomer. The obsidian witch instantly glowed with blinding light as it whirred to life with organ tones. However, before it could finish charging up an attack, a hand dislodged itself from the cloak of the larger witch and snatched the smaller one. It struggled against the grip, just like Fi had done in its own grasp moments before. Then with a single pulsating shine, the black witch became a golden statue, and the labyrinth disappeared.

We were back outside the Pillar of Light Cathedral. The labyrinth’s entrance on one of the stained glass windows had vanished, but we were still in our magical girl clothes.

“Fieros!” Shanoa ran toward Fi, who was lying on the ground of snow covered street half a block away.

“I don’t know what happened but we need to leave, _now,”_ I said, for, impossibly, the giant witch still loomed over us in the night sky. We started to retreat, with Luca carrying Fieros, but it was already too late.

Another hand broke away from the witch’s cloak, holding its own golden statue. The hands clinked the statues together, some sparks flying between them, and then dropped them. The moment they hit the ground, all of us were thrown back into the labyrinth. The labyrinth was going haywire, shifting at irregular intervals between the abyssal plane from before to some sort of lava forest with burning charcoal trees and oozing magma.

Meanwhile, the statues shed their gold color and came alive. The ebony witch absorbed the fire and magma, lighting itself up a brilliant white. The other figure was also a witch, a tall spindly humanoid that I would have mistaken for one of the black trees if it weren’t wearing charred rags and a large pointed hat. Its face was several vertical slits which emitted flames like a furnace left unchecked. Its body was burning up, but it didn’t seem to care. With a ghastly wail and a crooked finger pointed at us, it began its attack, running toward us while lobbing fireballs. At the same time, a multi-octave organ chord resounded as the glass golem witch began its own onslaught of lasers, firing from its four hands. Both witches ignored each other and Fieros. The witch cloaked in hands simply watched from above.

With a constant laser trained on each one of us and fireballs on top of that, it was all that we could do to run and dodge out of the way. The shifting terrain presented its own challenge, throwing trees and lava in our way. Thankfully the lava in this labyrinth worked on movie logic and not real world logic, or we would have burnt up just by being in proximity of it.

Shanoa screamed as she took a direct hit from a fireball, setting her on fire, but she continued to run in spite of that to avoid the laser trailing behind her.

The wooden witch caught up to Luca, who stopped running and desperately played her bass. Her music magic shielded her from the fire breath and the laserbeam, but even I with my momentary glance could tell that it was weakening by the second.

Suddenly a speeding bullet from out of nowhere shot toward the floating witch and nailed it right in the globe.

“I’ve finally got you, Conquest!” proclaimed the masked hero, Ultima. “No more running!”

The hands on Conquest’s cloak pointed at the new challenger, and the witches on the ground abruptly swiveled around and aimed all of their attacks at Ultima.

I didn’t bother to see what happened next. _Now’s our chance!_

 _Take Fi and get out of here!_ I sent to the others.

I turned the other way and got ready to run back into battle, but Fantasia grabbed my arm and said, “You’re coming too!”

“But now’s the perfect time to strike!” I argued. “We can’t leave Ultima to fight alone!”

“Yes we can, and we will.”

“That’s—”

“I don’t want to lose you, too!” She looked me in the eyes. Hers were glassy with tears. For the first time, I noticed that I was crying, too.

_“Please,”_ she said.

“Fine. I won’t fight. But I can send someone to help. Just give me a second, OK?”

She nodded and let go of my arm. I played some arpeggiated chords and summoned a nine-and-a-half foot tall skeleton dressed in bits of plated armor and carrying a battle axe equal to its wielder’s size. It took more magic than usual to raise this warrior, but I wanted to make sure it was strong enough to survive without me managing it.

_Slay the two lesser witches, then bring me their grief seeds,_ I commanded with my keyboard. The skeleton soldier immediately headed into battle. With that done, I followed my friends out of the labyrinth.

We walked around the other side of the cathedral, away from the labyrinth entrance, and Luca propped Fi against the wall. She looked like she’d been struck by lightning, and her soul gem had shattered.

Shanoa pushed Luca against the wall and grabbed on to the front part of her cape.

“This is all your fault!” Shanoa yelled. She was all out of sorts in more ways than one, with third degree burns on her raw exposed skin, parts of her outfit burnt away, and some hair missing. “If you showed up to practices, then you could have protected her. But I guess _frikkin_ _football_ is more important than the lives of your friends!”

“Shanoa!” Fantasia scolded.

Luca withstood Shanoa’s accusation quietly with her head bowed and a grim shadow over her pale face.

“Just leave! Go away! I don’t want to see you anymore!” Shanoa collapsed to her knees, sobbing.

Luca bolted, tears streaming from her eyes. I called after her, but she didn’t so much as look back.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Shanoa and Fantasia, and I sprinted after her.

Luca didn’t make it far. As soon as she ducked out of view of the cathedral, she slowed to a stumbling walk. She was back to wearing her normal clothes. When I came up behind her, she stopped.

“Luca, it’s not your fault,” I said. “You didn’t kill Fieros. The witch did.”

“But Shanoa is right,” Luca said. “If came to practice, I would have been able to keep up. Fi would still be alive. In that way, it _is_ my fault. I’ve failed her. I’ve failed all of you.”

I hugged her from behind. “Don’t do this. Don’t shoulder the responsibility for Fi all alone. We were all her friends. We need to take on this grief together.”

Standing there in my arms, Luca wept.

“What should we do with her body?” Fantasia asked. “Do we bring her back to her house?”

With some coaxing I managed to guide Luca back to the others. Shanoa cradled Fi’s body, and though she didn’t offer an apology, there wasn’t any more conflict between her and Luca. Shanoa and I were still in our magical girl outfits, but Fantasia had reverted back to her puffy coat. We all spoke in quiet, depressed tones.

“I dunno,” I said. “Because of her wish, her family was entirely ignoring her. Maybe it would be better if they believed she went missing.”

“But then, what about a funeral?” Shanoa asked.

“We could always bury her ourselves,” Luca said.

All of our heads turned toward the sound of crunching footsteps. My skeleton warrior appeared from around the corner, startling Shanoa and Luca.

“Don’t worry, it’s mine,” I assured them. The tall skeleton hobbled over and offered a hand which held two grief seeds.

I accepted its offering without comment, handed them over Fantasia, and dismissed the warrior with the last couple of measures from Chopin’s “Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2,” which had become my standard for the task.

The presence of my undead warrior brought to mind an idea. A desperate idea, addled by grief. _But what if. . ._

I stared at Fi’s corpse. I must have been making a strange face, because Shanoa said, “Dresden?”

“Shanoa, set Fi down and move away. I’m going to try something.”

“Try what?” I didn’t answer her question because I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up if my idea failed, but she did as I requested.

The other Wish Warriors watched silently as I began playing Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” on my keytar. I concentrated my magic on the corpse of my friend as if she was one of my undead legion, and sure enough, there was a familiar magic link. I faltered in my performance. _What if she becomes a thrall or a zombie? Is this really right, to disturb the dead with magic? I know my magic is necromancy, but using it on the body of someone who just died is different than using it on the remains of those long dead, right?_

I shook the thoughts away. _I cannot let this tragedy stand!_ I picked up where I left off with the classical piece, and while keeping the mental-magic link between us alive through concentration, I commanded in my mind, _Junko Senoue, rise!_

So much of my magic flowed through the link and into Fi that it made me stagger, but I continued playing my keytar until the process was complete. A bright light enveloped Fi, and when it disappeared Fi was coughing, and her soul gem was whole.

“Fieros!” the three girls gathered around their resurrected friend, smothering her in hugs.

“Thank goodness,” I whispered, and I fell to the ground, my keyboard and magical girl outfit disappearing as I curled up in a ball. I couldn’t breathe. My stomach felt like it was twisted in knots and made of lead. I shuddered uncontrollably. _This feeling is so familiar. . . Like I’m being smothered by darkness. . . Why. . . ?_

With the last bit of conscious thought I had, I made my soul gem appear in my hand. The last bit of turquoise was about to fade to black.

A grief seed tapped against it, and the darkness transferred containers, restoring the shine to my soul gem.

Fantasia leaned over me with concern. “Are you OK?”

I sat up and nodded, instantly feeling better. “Is Fieros. . . ?”

“OK, so what the heck happened?” Fi said in a rasp. She managed to get Shanoa and Luca to back off, but she hadn’t moved from her spot against the wall. “I remember the witch grabbed me, and then she pumped me full of. . .” she suddenly clutched her head with both hands, her eyes wide and her breathing heavy. “Oh crap. I died. Didn’t I?”

We nodded.

Luca hugged her again tightly. “I’m so sorry! I should have been able to protect you. I’m so glad you’re OK.”

Fi returned the embrace but said nothing.

“You remember dying?” I asked.

“Heck yeah I do. It hurt like a mother-bleeper.” Fi shuddered. “What I wanna know is how I’m alive again. Not that I’m complaining.”

“Dresden used her necromancy to bring you back,” Fantasia said.

“No frikkin’ way. I didn’t know you can do that.”

“Me neither,” I said. “Do you feel. . . different?”

“Different how?”

“Different from normal. Like, before you died.”

“I dunno. Not really.”

“Shanoa, could you check her for a pulse?”

“Sure!” Shanoa leaned her head against Fi’s chest. “She’s got a heartbeat.”

“Oh good. She’s not a zombie, then.”

Fi grabbed Shanoa by the shoulders. “Dang girl, what kind of makeover is that?”

“It hurts a lot,” Shanoa admitted.

“I think I can do something about that,” I said. Still sitting on the ground, I transformed back into my magical girl outfit, and with keytar in hand played an improvised tune while focusing on the link between Shanoa and I.

 _Heal,_ I thought. Sure enough, I felt my magic flow into Shanoa, not unlike when I gave my skeletons more HP.

Shanoa’s burns healed over, and her hair grew back, though it was now her natural hair color instead of the bright dyes she consistently maintained. Amazed, she scrambled over and gave me a hug.

“Thank you so so much, for everything,” Shanoa said. Fi came over and joined the hug.

“Seriously, thank you,” Fi said.

Luca and Fantasia joined in, so we were one big group hug on the snow-covered with me in the center of it all.

I closed my eyes, savoring the moment. _We are all alive and together, exactly how it should be._

“Guess we found our party’s healer, aye?” Luca said.

“You can count on me!” I said.

Though the moment was warm, a tragedy was avoided, and a great discovery had been made, the shadow left by our first encounter with Conquest chilled me to the bone. _We will be ready for you next time, and no one will ever die on my watch again. I swear it._


End file.
